The Chosen One - Mission in Africa
by atikabubu
Summary: Sequel to The Chosen One - The Beginning. Four months after Toshiro's disappearance, he comes to the Yokosuka Naval Base in the middle of a fierce snowstorm. He doesn't know what to expect from the people he knew, and from the girl he loved. What will be the consequences of his decision?
1. Chapter 1 - Consequences

**Disclaimer**

**I do not hold the intellectual property rights to the Strike Witches franchise, or any other book, comic, song, movie or other work of art i reference. Original Content created by me is copyrighted by me alone. All brand names are property of the respective parties owning rights to them. This disclaimer is valid hereinafter and won't be repeated in the following chapters.**

* * *

**First of all, I want thank Doran Maya for being my 'beta reader', heh… Without him, I wouldn't have the energy to power through. Be sure to read his stuff! **

**I would also want to thank Seiko1979. I don't know why, but I have this gut feeling it's necessary. :P**

**Sup! Welcome to the sequel to The Chosen One! If you are reading this, and haven't read it, do stop, go to my profile, find it and read it, or you'll miss out.**

**This fic is a change of pace, and almost wholy original content in terms of what happens. I only adapted a bit from Kimi to Tsunagaru Sora, and the Witches of The Sphinx doujins, that's all. **

* * *

**Be warned, the M rating isn't just for shits and giggles. Profanity will be a part of this fanfic, but in a rather 'toned' manner, so it doesn't get defenestrated for being too lewd or abusive.**

**So… I won't be blabbering on anymore, onwards!**

**Panzer Vor!**

* * *

**Oh, and one more thing... If you didn't see the news...**

**HOLY SHIT THERE WILL BE A THIRD SEASON OF STRIKE WITCHES! THEY ALSO SAID THERE WILL BE AN OVA!**

**HALF-LI... THE CHOSEN ONE 3 CONFIR... Nope... SW3 will be a different Unit's story... Maybe the OVA...  
**

* * *

Chapter 1 - Consequences

It was February 9, 1945.

Snow was covering the fields, roads, mountains and roofs of Yokosuka with a thick veil. The wind was blowing heavily, stirring up the snow, and carrying new one from the grey clouds that were covering the sky.

A mysterious man in a snowsuit and goggles was going through the fields, red scarf covering his face. He was singing a song to keep up his spirit.

_Yuki no Shingun, kori o funde_ (Marching in the snow, treading on ice)

_dore ga kawa yara michi sae shirezu._ (we can't tell rivers and roads apart.)

_Uma wa taoreru sutete mo okezu_ (The packhorses died, but we can't leave the load behind.)

_Koko wa izukozo, mina teki no kuni._ (Everywhere we go, we're in the midst of the enemy.)

_Mama yo daitan, ippuku yareba!_ (Hey, let's be bold! Let's smoke!)

_Tanomisukuna ya tabako ga ni-hon!_ (Alas! There are only two cigarettes!)

The man stopped at one place. The scarf unraveled itself a bit, revealing a smile of sorrow and discontent on his face. He wrapped the scarf around his head again, and went on.

The man continued his march, and passed through the streets of the small city to the big gate of the Naval Base.

A guard was to be seen in his booth. A faint orange light was flickering on the interior walls, indicating he was using a miniature stove to keep himself warm.

The man went through the opened gate, but suddenly the guard rushed out of his booth and made an uproar.

"Halt! Who goes there?"

The man turned around and introduced himself, "First Lieutenant Toshiro Akayama."

"Huh? I don't know anyone by that name…"

"Are you new here, private?"

"Yes. I came here just a week ago from Enoshima, because the previous guy has gotten injured. Anyway, I can't let you pass until I get you verified."

"Sure, be my guest. But please phone Major Mio Sakamoto for that occasion."

"I can do that. Please, stay where you are."

The guard rushed back into his booth and picked up his phone.

_"Should we eavesdrop?"_

_"No need, Yuki."_

After a minute, the guard came out and said, "Please, the Major is waiting for you at behind hangar number two. She said you will know the way, sir."

"Have a nice guard duty, Private."

"Yes sir, will do!"

Toshiro slowly treaded to the backside of the hangar. The snow was creaking under his insulated shoes. Just as he went around the corner, he heard a wild shout.

"UNYOU!"

A shadowy figure in white rushed at him with a sword held high. The swords tip was brimming with magic, ready to cut him in half.

Toshiro didn't have a choice. He extended his hand and summoned his sword, Aganaimaru. He twisted it to the side in a block attempt. The sword of the assailant slammed against his blade. A powerful magic explosion shook the ground and the attacker was blown away several meters in a flurry of snowflakes.

Toshiro approached the lying assassin. The figure in a white snowsuit was on the ground before him. The hood of the suit came off, revealing the dark, long hair of the one clad in it.

"Mio, do you always great your guests like that?" Toshiro asked sarcastically, extending his hand to her.

"It… It is you… You… You are alive!" Mio said with her voice failing her.

"Don't lie on the ground like that, you'll catch a cold."

"Humph…" She huffed.

Mio grabbed his hand and pulled herself up.

"Mio, did my disappearance cause any… events?"

He could see that Mio's face changed into a grim mask, and that she clenched her shaking fists.

"Come to my office... This story is long…"

"Okay."

They both went to Mio's office. She had a single barrack all for herself. After opening the door and turning on the light, she let Toshiro in.

"Have a seat."

She pointed out a chair before her desk.

Toshiro took a seat.

"Why don't you pull of that suit, it's rather warm here." She said while stoking the fire in a small stove.

"Right, good idea."

He pulled off the hood first. His waist long white hair fell down along his body. After taking off the goggles, his crimson eyes were revealed. Then taking off the snowsuit and scarf, Toshiro showed that underneath it he was wearing a crimson red battle suit, similar to that which experienced shinobi wear.

"Toshiro… You changed…"

"First, tell me what happened from your point of view. Then, I'll do the same from mine."

"Okay, listen carefully what happened in the last four months." Mio started with a serious voice. "The day after you finished that enhanced plane engine you didn't show up in the base. Miyafuji went to visit you, and not finding you home made her worried, so she ran off to me. I explained to here that maybe you had a relapse of depression after your mother's funeral, and that you may have secluded yourself somewhere. We both believed in it. But days passed, and you were nowhere to be found. After a week, an official search party was sent to scour Yokosuka high and low. Needless to say, you weren't found. A search order was sent to the military bases in whole Fuso afterwards. A month after your disappearance, the search was interrupted, and you were pronounced missing.

After the next two months, you were declared dead… The news spread like wildfire in a pine forest after a drought. The press was supposedly hammering the phones of the military. Fortunately then I was meeting my old comrade, Ayaka Kuroe. She was the one who showed me the technique you saw just a moment ago. It was somewhat funny, because I already knew it, just didn't had an occasion to use it, afraid that my Masakuni could break… Our blades cut each other in half… Although she has no shield anymore like me, she still can pull of such a feat. I'm close to perfecting that move and making it even stronger…"

"Mio, we are detouring…"

"Oh yes, pardon me. So when I returned to the base, they broke the news to me. I couldn't believe they gave up on you so easily… The funeral was held a week afterwards, three weeks ago from now. You'd wish you were alive to see it… Press from all around the world and a variety of guests that would normally be a nightmare to organize. To cut it short: you had Miyafuji with her mother, grandmother and cousin as guests. A delegation from the base and the rest of the military. Eisenhower, Churchill with your friend Horbie. Even the Emperor of Karlsland came, with Galland and that shady photographer… And me of course... Oddly enough, nobody from the old 501st appeared… Anyway, you were posthumously promoted to the rank of Major, in honor of your deeds and your father. But you know what shocked everyone? The Kaiser held a eulogy for you. It was a passionate speech, and he ended it with the words, 'Rest in peace, my dear nephew…'

"So he finally said it…? Poor uncle…"

"This was the 'state secret' you were keeping from us?"

"Yes. What was the reaction for the world to those words?"

"After your funeral, the Kaiser gave an official press statement, revealing who you were, and who your father was. From what I know, almost all of Karlsland backed up the Emperor in mourning. The people probably came to a conclusion that there is no sense in beating on the current ruler for the mistakes of his father…"

"What a considerate nation… So, this is it? What… What about Yoshika?"

"She was deeply struck by these events. Her grades went from average-average to below average… She became a shut in…"

"I have to repair that… Yoshika has suffered because of me…"

"You still have something to explain, Toshiro. For instance: where in all kami were you?!" Mio raised her voice.

"I was literally off this world, in the realm of the goddess… I had undergone a years' worth of training, both with sword and without. I could probably kill you with my pinkie now, heh…"

"Your sense of humor degraded seriously… But why didn't you tell anyone about this? You made everyone worried sick you moron!"

"I couldn't. I was warned of the possible consequences, but I didn't even think that it would end up like this…"

"I see… By the way, where is your sword? It was two times the size of a normal katana, and you somehow managed to hide it…"

Toshiro lifted his hand and summoned the sword.

"This sword?"

"Yes… What…"

"This sword is magical in every aspect. I can summon it at will and…" Toshiro made a gesture, and the sword split into two smaller ones. "…it does this thing."

"Incredible… What is its name?"

"Aganaimaru."

"Perfect redemption?"

"Yup." Toshiro fused the swords together in one.

"I can't wait to see it in action… Will you show me your progress? Maybe tomorrow…"

"Sure, why not."

"I have another question: your eyes?"

"Yes… It is a side effect of the training… Nothing to worry about, it's only a visual change, nothing underlying… But there's a plus side to it: my eyes don't change with magic activation."

"Okay… What will you do now?"

"First I want to ask what became of my… home, if you can even call that shack a home."

"The last blizzard destroyed it; your possessions are in my office for safe keeping." Mio pointed to the lump under a rag in the corner.

"I see… Well, since I'm officially dead, I don't belong to the navy anymore, and you know what that means?"

"That you are now a bum without education?"

"Ha… Ha… Just bring me to the comms room."

"Huh?"

"Trust me on this one."

"Okay, let us depart then."

They traversed the snowstorm and ended up in the comms room.

"Good morning Major, who is the guest with you?" Said one of the radiomen.

"Somebody belonging to the past." Mio answered

"What a cryptic answer, Major…" The second one grumbled.

Toshiro unraveled his clothes.

The two radiomen started screaming in panic and ran out.

"It seems that they knew you, Toshiro…"

"I was with them on the same radioman course."

"You now have the whole room to yourself then. Should I wait outside?"

"Nah. Have a seat and listen."

Toshiro and Mio took seats. He picked up the phone and turned on the speaker.

"Connect me with Neue Karlsland." Toshiro said to the phone.

"A minute please." A voice answered.

"Neue Karlsland? Wait… Are you planning what I'm thinking?"

"I don't know what you are thinking; I didn't learn mind reading…"

"Neue Karlsland Headquarters, what can I help you with?"

"I need to speak with Adolfine Galland."

"What is your business?"

"Personal matters."

"I don't think I can get Brigadier General Galland out of her office for such a matter…"

"Listen to me, soldier…" Toshiro raised his voice. "If you don't give me Galland in a minute, you'd better start looking for a branch and rope to dangle from, because your military career will be forfeit…"

"Okay… Okay… Please wait…"

"Toshiro, I don't recognize you…" Mio said.

"You obviously have forgotten what was going on in Britannia…"

"Right… If it came to some matters, you were really hell-bent on pulling it through…"

"Galland speaking. Who is this? My adjutant was scared shitless when he approached me."

"Mortī te salūs (The dead one salutes you), Adolfine." Toshiro said with a calm voice.

"Nein… Unmöglich (Impossible)! Toshiro? You are alive?!"

"Yes. I'm sorry for my disappearance, but I had little choice…"

"You cause quite an uproar you know… The Kaiser is glum because of what happened…"

"I can imagine… Listen, Adolfine, remember our little conversation after Erica's commendation?"

"Refresh my memory…"

"You wanted for me to jump ship from the IFN and join the Wehrmacht."

"Ah yes… Wait, are you phoning me because of this?"

"Yes. Since my country gave up on me, I'm changing boats now."

"Wunderbar (Wonderful)! I will do the paperwork right off the bat! Any requests?"

"Yes, I have a few. I want my rank of Major, which I was given posthumously. I want Karlsland citizenship, and my surname changed to Edelweiss."

"Quite a lot of demands for someone who has risen from the grave…"

"Well, it's not a lot to be honest. You'll have more work calming down uncle after you tell him the news. He'll probably want to make me a General and want me to stay in Neue Karlsland…"

"With your kill count you already deserved a Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords you know?"

"Really? So they counted all those cubes back then near Calais, and the cubes plus small Neuroi during the battle with the Warlock as separate kills?"

"Yes. Your kill count is now two hundred seventy."

"Wheeew… Nice… Have a nice day, Adolfine; I have to visit Yoshika now."

"Your girlfriend? She looked so sad at your funeral…"

"I plan to cheer her up. Auf Wiedersehen (Goodbye)!"

"Auf Wiedersehen, Toshiro. I will contact you in a few days."

"And that's that." Toshiro said.

"So we are now equal ranked, huh?"

"Does that bother you, Mio? We were only respecting military hierarchy at the beginning of my journey."

"True. You could say we are good friends now…"

"Because we are. Want to accompany me to Yoshika?"

"No, thanks… I have enough emotions for one day. However, be warned, her mother could not react positively to you appearing suddenly. You caused her daughter much sorrow after all…"

"I'll think of something. Thanks for the tip though, Mio."

Toshiro exited the base unbothered by anyone.

_"What do you think about putting up a foreigner act?"_

_"It may or may not work, Toshiro. Until your face I hidden your chances are very good actually. You'll have to change your voice a bit though."_

_"Don't worry about that."_

Toshiro went on through the snowstorm to the Miyafuji clinic.

* * *

**And so, the first chapter is finished! Await a next one in three days!**

**Notes:**

**Unyou (Cloud Spark) – a technique only showcased in Kimi to Tsunagaru Sora, chapter 7. Basically a gimped, melee version of the Reppuzan.**

**By the way, if you are desperately searching for chapter 7 and 8 of the aforementioned manga, just look at the talk page of Kimi to Tsunagaru Sora at the Strike Witches Wiki, 'What chapters 7 and 8?' section.  
**

**If you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]**


	2. Chapter 2 - Under one roof

Chapter 2 - Under one roof

Toshiro stood before the door of the Miyafuji clinic. He knocked on the door gently. Yoshika's mother opened.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Gid moaning. Oim Pierre Grenouille, a Lieutenant of the Gullian Ormy. Did I ridge the Miyafuji household?"

"Why yes… This is the Miyafuji household. What do you want, Lieutenant?"

"I huve a massage for Yoshika Miyafuji. Tup secret, ears unly."

"Why please, come in. Yoshika is home right now because of the blizzard."

"Think you."

Toshiro came into the house. He left his shoes and went on further.

"Why don't you take of your uh… snowsuit, Lieutenant?"

"I dunt plon to stay lung."

_She is buying it!_

He went into the living room. Yoshika and her grandmother were sitting there.

"Gid moaning." Toshiro introduced himself.

"Oh? And who you might be?" The grandmother asked.

"He is a Lieutenant of the Gallian Army. He has some message for Yoshika."

"Yis oi do."

Yoshika looked at him. She looked apathetic and her eyes were empty.

_What have I done…_

"Moi massage is…" Toshiro started to unravel his clothes. The eyes of the gathered started to widen. "I'm back, Yoshika."

"T-T-T-T-T-Toshiro?" Yoshika stuttered like a machine gun, but swiftly came up on her knees and jumped to his neck. "Toshiro… My Toshiro came back… My beloved Toshiro returned…"

Toshiro felt as tears streamed down his neck. He hugged Yoshika and said, "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry you had to endure this pain…"

"Young man, you have a lot to explain…" Yoshika's mother said with an angry voice.

Yoshika jumped down and said, "Toshiro, how… why… why…"

"Calm down, Yoshika, I'll explain everything."

He explained what happened the day he disappeared and what he did during the four months in general.

"Unbelievable…" Yoshika's grandmother said.

"I can hardly believe that happened…" Yoshika's mother said reluctantly.

"I believe Toshiro!" Yoshika shouted bravely, causing confusion amongst her elders. "He wouldn't lie in such a serious situation!"

"But Yoshika… A goddess? Even I as a Shinto practitioner have my doubt whether my gods exist…"

"And you saying you met Amaterasu personally could be even considered a blasphemy." The grandmother chipped in. "You should return home now, so we can think this through in our own company."

"Well… There's a slight problem with my home…"

"What is it?"

"It's gone."

"Gone? How?"

"Well, it was destroyed in a snowstorm… It wasn't exactly built to last... Frankly I'm surprised that shack even managed to stand all these years… So basically I'm now homeless and until I get my stuff from Mio I'm broke. But at least I'm now hired in the army again…"

"Oh my… Well fine… You can sleep in the living room for now, until the Navy sends you enough money for you to rent something…" Yoshika's mom said.

"Not the Navy ma'am. Not even the army of Fuso. Since the old me is dead now, therefore I am Major Toshiro Lucas Edelweiss of the Karlslandian Wehrmacht. I picked up an offer I had been given some time ago."

"Wait… Aren't you the nephew of their Emperor?" Yoshika's mother asked.

"Well… Yes… I'm proud and troubled by it at the same time…"

"And here we are berating you… I'm sorry for being so grumpy, but you can understand…"

"_Did my somewhat future mother-in-law just change her stance based on my family ties? Feels wrong… But also strangely satisfying…"_

"_Don't abuse that connection, Toshiro. You should know from history that harassing people with a powerful dad/uncle/whatever isn't exactly a good idea on the long run…"_

"_Yes, Yuki, I know…"_

"Yes, I can understand perfectly, ma'am. I have an idea though: I can tutor Yoshika so she gets her grades straight, but in return I want to crash in her room."

"Pervert…" Grandma mumbled.

"I agree to this offer. But no sleeping in one bed and no funny stuff."

"I promise." Toshiro said with his hand raised to a pledge.

Yoshika ran up to him and hugged Toshiro dearly.

"Yay! Now you can be with me all of the time!"

"Not all the time. You have to go to school on some days you know, heh…"

"Oh, don't spoil the mood…"

"Hah… My Yoshika… I missed you so much… It was four months for you, but a whole year for me…"

"A year? So technically, you are…almost nineteen?"

"Sort of… But I didn't age, nor did my body require sustenance during that time…"

"If we are at the topic of sustenance… I was about to make dinner when you came in." Yoshika's mom said.

"Thank you very much ma'am. It's an honor to eat my first meal after a year in the home of my girlfriend."

"Ahahaha… Don't flatter me, Toshiro… May I call you Toshiro?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Then you can call me Sayaka."

"Of course, Sayaka." Toshiro said with a smile

"And you can call me Grandma for all I care."

"Yes, Grandma."

Toshiro helped Sayaka and Yoshika make dinner in their small kitchen.

"Toshiro, I didn't suspect that someone of your… posture could cook so well…"

"You don't know many things about me, Sayaka. All good, I can assure."

"You would make a good husband for my Yoshika."

"Mooom!" Yoshika protested.

"What? Women of my age always think about grandchildren…"

The thoughts of Yoshika and Toshiro were probably concerning the same topic, because they blushed wildly.

"Ahahaha, you two… You didn't do anything indecent… Right?"

"Nothing at all! Only decent boyfriend-girlfriend interactions!"

"Yes, what Toshiro just said, mom!"

"I'm kidding you two… If it makes you happy and doesn't affect others in a bad way, do whatever you want."

"Thank you, Sayaka…"

"Stop thanking and cut those radishes!" Yoshika commanded.

"Yes ma'am!"

Toshiro took the knife and cut the radishes in the blink of an eye.

"It really seems you have been training, Toshiro…" Sayaka said without breath.

"Oh, pardon… I got a little carried away…"

"_Showoff…"_

"_Grump…"_

After the lunch, Toshiro was obliged to compliment the cooking.

"Wheeew… That stew was marvelous… Thank you for the meal!"

"Oh, pshaw… You were a big help…"

"Aw… I'm starting to blush…"

Sayaka and Yoshika giggled.

"Say, sonny, what's with that ninja suit?" Grandma asked.

"That? Just a normal suit I used for training. There's nothing magical, abnormal, paranormal or godly in it, sorry… Well, maybe a tad for the last one, I got it from the goddess… And it fits nicely, heh…"

"You should change it soon; you stand out like a sore thumb."

"Yes Grandma, as soon as I get my previous clothing back from Mio… Yoshika, since you weren't at school today, what would you say about some tutoring, huh?"

"Don't wanna…"

"Oh come on… It will be fun! If you have bad grades, no medical school will give you admission…"

"Really?! Oh my… I totally forgot about it! Toshiro, let's learn, now!"

Yoshika grabbed Toshiro's hand and dragged him to her room. It was more of a study than a girl's bedroom. There was a shelf with books, a desk and a Western bed.

"Yoshika, is this your…"

"Yes, it's was my father's study and bedroom, and now it's mine… I want to keep it the way it was before…"

After a few hours, Yoshika lost her motivation.

"Math is booooriiiing… Who needs all those fractions and whatevers…"

"Hey, I managed somehow, pay more attention."

"But you are a genius…" Yoshika pouted.

"One can be born a genius, but die an idiot. Remember that, Yoshika."

"Okay… But let's change the subject… I want to do literature, because we had an assignment due today..."

"Which you didn't do?"

"Eheheheh… Yes…"

"Oh you little devil… What was the assignment?"

"Writing a poem…"

"I see… Given your state you didn't have motivation, right?"

"Yeah… I really missed you…"

"I know, Yoshika, I know… Okay, I'll write a poem for you, but don't bitch about the content, okay?"

"Okay!"

Toshiro fetched a piece of paper and a pen. He pondered for a while and started writing.

'The sky was dark, the wind blowing strong

Every moment felt so wrong

Then came a guest, dressed in white

He entered the living room with all his might

He took of his hood, and to everyone's surprise

It was someone, who was thought that met his demise

My heart raced, many tears felt

When the guest before me knelt

With his white hair and crimson red eyes

Toshiro, my boyfriend, did from the grave arise

And suddenly everything was right

I can continue, fighting the good fight'

He passed the poem to Yoshika. She read it silently.

"Toshiro… This… This…"

"A little selfish, I know..."

"No, it's beautiful… So beautiful…" Tears started forming in Yoshika's eyes.

"Don't cry, Yoshika…"

She wiped them of her eyes with his thumbs.

"Okay…"

"I'll accompany you for the literature class tomorrow. As a guest of honor and living example so to speak."

"Oh… Yes… The poem would feel wrong, because everyone already knows you were my boyfriend and that you are dead…"

"When should I come?"

"Hmmm… The literature class is at 1300… Be there ten minutes earlier and wait by the gate. It's an all-girls school, so a man walking around freely would be… weird…"

"I can imagine…" Toshiro looked outside the window. It was pitch black outside.

"_This is your watch-on-demand, it is now 1739. Thank you, please come again."_

"_Through evolution you exchanged your venom for sarcasm, Yuki…"_

"_And I'm proud of it!"_

"Anything else you want to brush up on before supper?"

"Um… That will do for now… My head is itching inside, hehe…"

"Slacker… My slacker…"

They looked at each other. They could sense their beating hearts.

"Toshiro…"

"Yoshika…"

Their long accumulated passion and desire for each other exploded in a fiery kiss.

They were lying on the floor, looking at the ceiling.

"Say, Toshiro… How was it 'there'?"

"Without you it was barely manageable to be honest… I only had Yuki and the goddess as a companion. I trained until I fell, I regenerated, and I trained again. It was a year of murderous training. Sometimes I would wander out for sightseeing…"

"Did… Did the realm have nice views?"

"Yes, it was mesmerizing. The two moons, the lush green fields, mountains in the far horizon, small rivers, and a big lake to which I was always brought when talking to Yuki in sleep."

"Wow… I wish I could visit it someday…"

"Maybe when this is all over, I'll put in a word for you, okay?"

"Sure. Oh… Will you cut your hair?"

"Nah… I've grown accustomed to it… How does it look with it by the way?"

"You look… powerful and… awe inspiring…"

"Good… Good… If I ever get into active military duty, I will need that when dealing with subordinates. I would like to see their faces when they discover my true nature, heh…"

"Speaking of which… You are now a Major in the Wehrmacht. How did that happen?"

"Remember that time the Kaiser visited us?"

"You mean 'uncle'?"

"Hah, yes, uncle… Well, he gave me an offer to change teams so to speak… I told him I won't, because it would be unpatriotic, but I also said I would consider them first in line if I ever decide to. And so, bang!"

"Heehee... But… You changed your surname, why? Akayama was a nice one…"

"Now nothing in my looks reminds of an Asian… Besides, I feel that I owe something to my late father, more even than to mother... And the name is actually a stigma…"

"A stigma?"

"My ancestor, Keiko, slaughtered the inhabitants of the temple she lived in from her infancy after not being able to handle the power of the Sacred Flame. The goddess wanted swift retribution, but had mercy because she was pregnant, and instead gave her a new name, Akayama, because she made the mountain in which the temple was situated run red with blood… She also sealed the power of the Sacred Flame and the ability to use magic itself in the blood of her and her descendants… And then, I came along…"

"Such a tragic story…"

"And you know what's even 'better' so to speak? I'm a bastard descendant of Oda Nobunaga it seems. Keiko was the bastard child of Nobunaga and some powerful witch named Rinko…"

Yoshika tilted her head, not understanding what she just heard.

"You know who Oda Nobunaga was, do you?"

"Ummm… Well… History is boring…"

"Yoshika…" Toshiro said irritated. "You know that with that attitude you won't graduate for shit? And a woman without education in these times can only be a housewife or… well, you don't want to know the second option…"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, really. You are already fifteen. In olden times, you would be probably with child at this age. Puberty is knocking on the door hard, Yoshika… The innocent days as a child are slowly closing to a stop, and you'll have to start making decisions that will have outcome on your future life…"

"Oh Toshiro… You are worrying too much… I promise that I will brush up on school stuff, so you won't be ashamed of me!"

"Speaking about that… After the war ends, I plan to finish my education and become a scientist." Toshiro knocked lightly on his head. "This noggin can't go to waste, you know…"

"Heehee… We would make a nice pair… Doctor and professor, heehee…"

"We ARE a nice pair, regardless of such mundane things as education... Anyway, Nobunaga was a great warlord that united Fuso in the sixteenth century and… the only previous human was blessed with Yuki as a familiar…"

"Huh? Really?"

"Yeah… But she abandoned him after he found out about the pregnancy of Keiko's mother and sent assassins to kill her, because he couldn't politically afford a bastard on the side. Keiko's mother wiped the floor with them, despite being pregnant, but she secretly sought asylum in the aforementioned temple… Yuki, despite being a little hard to cope with sometimes, has a really strong sense of morality."

"Toshiro… But that means… You are royal blood!"

"Nah… Nobunaga was give or take, seventeen generations ago and my uncles' father two… My blue blood is now as red as anyone else's, heh…"

A voice came from the living room.

"Kids, time for supper!"

"Coming mom!" Yoshika shouted back. "Come on, Toshiro, let's go." Yoshika said cheerfully and grabbed Toshiro's hand.

"Yeah, lets."

After supper, Sayaka came up to Toshiro with a bedroll and pillow. "Here, Toshiro, you can sleep on these. Not exactly your size but…"

"I'm fine, Sayaka. Thanks."

A few hours later, Yoshika's room.

"Are you asleep already, Toshiro?"

"Nope. Too many emotions rambling around my mind…"

"I can't sleep too… I'm just too excited you came back…"

"Then maybe I should go away again, so you can sleep?"

"No… Stupid… Don't even say that…"

"Hah… Just try to sleep; you have a busy day tomorrow."

"I'll try… But it's hard to sleep with you around…"

"Yoshika… I can see you blushing even in the darkness… What are you thinking about?"

"Oh… Nothing… Heehee… Good night, Toshiro."

"Good night, Yoshika."

* * *

**Notes:**

**Grenouille – frog in French**

**Toshiro's 'Gallian' impression – a reference to Officer Crabtree from Allo Allo**

**If you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]**


	3. Chapter 3 - In my sword I trust

Chapter 3 - In my sword I trust

Toshiro woke up.

_"It's about seven in the morning. You took your sweet time. And how didn't you feel that Yoshika crawled into your bedroll?'_

_"I what…"_

He looked down. Yoshika was tucked into his bedroll, tightly grasping his body.

_Oh that little devil…_

"Hey kids, time to wake up. Yoshika has to go to school, the weather is perfect." The voice of Sayaka was heard nearing Yoshika's room. "And we have a guest!"

_"A guest… Who could that be?"_

_"Pearls against peanuts that it's Mio."_

_"Probably… Wait, I'm in one bedroll with Yoshika, I have to…"_

The sliding door opened, revealing Sayaka.

"Oh my… You sure don't take your time, huh Toshiro?"

Toshiro put his hands up in the air.

"I didn't do anything! I slept like a stone the whole night!"

"I'm kidding… You could hear a cat fart in this house, nothing will go unnoticed…" Sayaka said with a sly smile.

"Yeah…" Toshiro started poking Yoshika. "Hey, sleepyhead, wake up, time for school."

"GImme an hour…" She mumbled.

"Who are you, Erica? Wake up, your mother is looking at us."

"Mom…MOM?!" Yoshika opened her eyes and shouted in panic. "We didn't do anything! I promise!"

"Ahahahah… You two are really on the same wavelength… Get dressed, Yoshika, we have a guest."

"Who?"

"Your beloved Major."

"Miss Sakamoto?"

"Yes. Although I think her visit is rather concerning Toshiro…"

"I probably thought so…" Said Toshiro. "Well, time to get dressed and talk to her…"

"I'll leave you two for now."

Sayaka closed the door.

Toshiro put on his ninja suit and went out of the room. In the living room, Sayaka, Mio and grandma were seen sipping tea.

"Good morning grandma."

"Morning."

"Hi, Mio."

"Hello, Toshiro."

Toshiro sat down. Sayaka gave him a cup of tea.

"Thank you. So, what brings you here, Mio?" Toshiro asked.

"I have come with your stuff. It's the chest in the anteroom."

"Well, thank you, Mio. You lugged the chest by your own?"

"There's nothing a witch can't do, haha! Besides, it wasn't much to be honest. Your books and newspapers were donated to the local school, just like you told me…"

"Very good, Mio. The contents of the chest are unscathed?"

"Yes. The Fuso officer and khaki uniforms, the Afrika Korps uniform, the Luftwaffe officer uniforms… The Luftwaffe officer boots… The robe and mask… Swimming trousers… What else… The insignia box, the Iron Cross box with certificate… The Wound badge… And the pistol with ammo pouch… The waterproof bag… Also all the papers about your equipment. Ah, your wallet and money are also intact… Speaking of which…"

Mio pulled out a wad of cash out of her uniforms pocket and placed it before Toshiro.

"Your personal wealth, Toshiro."

Toshiro's eyes widened.

"But… How…"

"After you went missing, I took initiative of caring after your finances. Until you went missing, your pay was paid out, and you got orphan money from Karlsland, although I think your uncle had some doing in this, because well… After summing it up with that cash you had in your wallet, and consolidating the yens and marks into pounds, before you lay four hundred and ninety five pounds."

Even grandma had to react to that.

"Hoho, sonny! You could buy this clinic with that money, and you would have money for a next one!"

Toshiro took the money, looked at it, and looked around the room.

"Did any of you have any expenses because of my funeral and disappearance? As you can see now, I can reimburse you."

"No, not at all. The flower on the grave now and then is nothing important."

"As you wish, Sayaka."

"Oh, hello Miss Sakamoto." Yoshika burst into the room, clad in her school uniform.

"Hello, Miyafuji. I'll liberate Toshiro from the three of you for a while."

"Huh? What do you want from me, Mio?"

"I want you to show me something."

"Well, okay. But I have to be at Yoshika's school after 1200."

"Fine. Let's go then."

"Have a nice day everyone, I'll return soon. For sure." Toshiro winked.

While dressing up, Toshiro asked, "So what do you want to see?"

"Wait until we get in place."

"Ugh, okay… And the place would be…?"

"The summit at which we met for the first time."

They went outside, and Toshiro said, "Let's sing something on the way there."

"Oh pfff, come on…"

"Oh? Don't like singing, Mio? It's fun! Let me start then… Yuki no shingun…"

"I told you I won't…"

"Kori wo funde…"

"I won't…"

"Dore ga kawa yara michi sae shirezu…"

"Allright! I'll sing! Uma wa taoreru sutete mo okezu!"

"That's the spirit! Koko wa izukozo, mina teki no kuni!"

After an arduous march through the fields of snow, the finally arrived at the summit.

"Douse ikitewa kaeranu tsumori! (We intend to pass away and to live on anyway!)" They sang the last stanza together.

"Wow, Mio, you really have a lovely voice! A shame you use it only to bark orders…" Toshiro said with a wry smile.

"Oh shut up…" Mio said baffled. "Now, Toshiro, I want to you to show me what you've learned."

"Nah, don't wanna…"

"Come on, don't be such an ass. I want to see it for my own eyes!"

"You won't back down now, will you?"

"No."

"Ugh… Fine."

Toshiro summoned his sword.

Mio unsheathed hers.

"Oh no, Mio! I vowed not to use my new gained abilities against humans."

"What? Scared?"

"No. I'm just not in a genocidal mood."

"Then how can I test you if not in battle?"

"I can just give you a dry run…"

Mio looked at him angrily.

"Sorry, Mio, but you wouldn't want to get hit even by my weakest blade technique. Especially since your shield is mainly for looks now…" Toshiro ended with a gloomy look.

"Don't say that! I have trained to make it stronger!"

Mio pulled up her shield. It looked strong, it didn't flicker.

Toshiro bent down, and started looking for something under the snow.

"Toshiro, I'm here, not under the snow." Mio said obviously annoyed.

He found what he was looking for. He showed it to Mio.

"Mio, you know what this is?"

"Looks like a pebble? Why do you ask?"

"Is that your strongest shield right now?"

"Well, yes… Why…"

Toshiro swiftly wound up and threw the rock. It reached subsonic speed and pierced right through the shield, grazing the hood of Mio's snowsuit.

"What… How…"

"I've thrown that little pebble so that the force of impact would be that of a 9mm Parabellum bullet. It pierced through like nobody's business." Toshiro made a pause and grabbed his sword like a javelin. "Now imagine Aganaimaru is a Neuroi beam. Want to take a chance?"

"No…" Mio responded with a bitter tone.

"Good girl…"

"But I won't stop fighting! NEVER!" Mio shouted, dangerously close to being hysterical. "That's why I'm practicing blade techniques!"

Mio was shaking on her whole body.

"Your magic as a whole is also fading, Mio. I can feel it through the Hebigan… Your magic signature is… dim… Rushing into battle would be suicidal…"

"Don't you teach me about being suicidal… Remember the Neuroified Akagi? What was that actually? You only gave some vague answer back then..."

"Ugh… It was an ancient and forbidden technique called Kamikaze, or Divine Wind if you prefer. Basically my whole body was turned into a hypersonic bomb…"

"How did you survive then?"

Toshiro's face was gloom as a graveyard during a rainy night in November.

"I didn't. I died."

"What?!"

"What you see before you is a new body with the old soul…A price had to be paid for it… My mother paid it with her own life, willingly… Now you know the real reason why I wanted to commit suicide after the funeral… The guilt and sorrow almost literally killed me, because first I thought that my mother's life was taken in exchange for mine… And at the end I was right…"

"Toshiro…" Mio was so surprised by Toshiro's words that she could only say his name.

"I know, Mio. You want to comfort me, but don't find the words to do it… I don't blame you… Don't worry about me, I already found peace. But I have to atone for what I did, and cutting down Neuroi with Aganaimaru is one way. So, you want to see those blade techniques or what?"

"With pleasure, Toshiro."

"But… Hmmm… It's kind of befitting and inconvenient that there's nothing to destroy here…"

"Why don't you just bang at the mountain?"

"Nu-uh. The temple in which Keiko was brought up is sealed there. I can't risk destroying it."

"What? A temple is sealed away in the mountain?"

"Yup. Hmmm… Doh well, I'll just fire the stuff in the air… Prepare your Magic Eye, Mio."

"Roger."

She took of her eye patch and looked at Toshiro with tension.

"First things first… Remember the Rending Gale?"

"How could I not? You used my sword and cut that Neuroi like a ripe apple."

"Hah. It took me a month, but I perfected it. I call it Rending Gale EX."

"Not an imaginative name…"

"Because it's only an evolution. It now has twenty sword lengths of reach, which given the length of Aganaimaru is about thirty meters. Also, again thanks to the sword, it can be overcharged to EX' level, which triples the reach and doubles the yield. Since I want to show you more stuff today, I won't go overboard. Watch closely."

Toshiro changed the grip on the sword, so the blade pointed downward.

Silently, without wild cries, he charged the blade. The blade started vibrating and buzzing on an unpleasant frequency. Toshiro took a wide horizontal swing. The untrained eye only would only see the gust that made a small snowstorm. However, Mio saw it differently – a half crescent made of magically infused compressed air swooped into the sky and disappeared, everything during one second.

"To…To…Toshiro…" Mio stuttered. "Just don't tell me that was your weakest sword spell…"

"Heh… Well… Sort of…"

"Unbelievable…"

"Well, that was that. If I would do that with two swords, I would combine the two attacks into one, executing the Cross Shot Rending Gale EX, but enough about that. Next thing I want to show is the Reppuzan.

"Wait, did you say Reppuzan?!"

"Yeah. Does it ring a bell?"

"Well, yes! That's my mentor's technique!"

"Your mentor?"

"Kitagou Fumika. She was almost like a mother to me, guiding me through my life as a Witch. Well, to be honest, I'm sort of a copy of her… I have the same character, same hairdo, I can't even cook like her, haha…" Mio coughed briefly and continued. "Uhm… Well… But how did you come to know the Reppuzan? It's a secret technique, passed on only to the most proficient sword wielding witches!"

"Mio… Did you forget I was training in a realm of a goddess? You know, gods tend to be omniscient…"

"Right… How long did it take you to master it?"

"Three months. It was harder to master, because as opposing to the Rending Gale, the Reppuzan doesn't use air as a medium for transporting magic. It's magic itself, in pure form. Before I demonstrate, I just have to tell you that I can pull this attack off five to six times a day… Oh, and it doesn't have an arbitrary range limit; it just gets progressively weaker after crossing a certain distance."

"And that would be…?"

"Well, a kilometer, give or take a few meters. Want to see for yourself?"

"As hell I want! Kitagou didn't show it to me, saying stuff about showing off…"

"Well, it certainly is flashy… Okay, show time!"

Toshiro took a proper stance with his sword and started pouring magic into it. This time the magic surrounding the sword looked like as if it was a flame, flickering and sparking.

He started taking an uppercut with the sword and yelled.

REPPUZAN!

A magic wave roared into the sky and continued flying upwards until even Mio couldn't see it with her eye.

"Wheeeew... so that's the Reppuzan. I see now. Thank you for demonstrating it, Toshiro. I believe I can advance my own training with the technique after seeing it for myself."

"Now I'm having second thoughts if I should show you something even better…"

"Something even better…" Mio pondered for a while. "I believe that Kitagou mentioned something like that, but she said that executing it would be rather difficult for anyone but the very best, maybe one or two persons in the whole world. I believe she called it the 'Shin Reppuzan'."

"Indeed."

"Who could think that you would obtain that technique before me…? Show me then!"

"Of course. But first, some boring stuff. It took me half a year to master, and I still don't feel comfortable swinging it around... I can only manage to do it ONCE daily…"

"Well… If it would endanger you, don't show me…"

"Nah, don't worry. I have a method to counteract that." Toshiro looked around. "Say…" He pointed at a mountaintop not far away. "Should I slice that piece of rock in half?"

"Okay, I dare you. To my knowledge it's just an uninhabited piece of rock, so fire away."

"Dare taken. Stand away, Mio. This can get a bit too hot for you…"

Mio walked back a few meters.

"Okay. Now witness the glory of the True Reppuzan!"

Toshiro was set ablaze in white flames. Magic particles started swirling around him, leaving long blue traces. He lifted the sword above his head. The blue flame appeared again, only this time, the magic particles started to flow into the sword, increasing the flames magnitude. The air was flickering from the Sacred Flame's aura, and the snow on the ground around Toshiro evaporated, showing the grass underneath it. Finally, the flame turned into a solid, pulsating indigo glow.

SHIN REPPUZAN!

Toshiro shouted with fury and swung the sword so fast that it left a blue afterimage. The air around him furled violently and the distant mountaintop was cut in half. It slowly slid down, and crashed into the valley.

Toshiro felt weak and fell on his knees. The Sacred Flame had receded, and he was breathing heavily.

"Toshiro! Are you all right!?" Mio shouted and ran up to him.

"Yeah… Whew… If I didn't use the Sacred Flame…. as a spare energy source… I would probably be on the verge of death… already…"

"You sure look like you are now… Why not use that Respite thing you used to back that day you were running with armor?"

"No… It won't work… right now… That time… the Impure… Give me a sec, okay?"

"Okay."

Toshiro sat down on the grass and calmed himself down.

"Whoo… Okay, now I can speak normally. So, back then, the Impure Sacred Flame was blocked out from me, so I wouldn't go genocidal on everyone around. Yuki could leak some of the power from it to regenerate my magic and fatigue. Now, that I possess the pure form of the Sacred Flame, it changed into a… how to word it… An auxiliary battery with separate circuitry. I can either go all out with it, or try to manage without it."

"I think I understand the analogy. I'm impressed by the Shin Reppuzan… To think such a power is at your hands…"

"There's more, Mio…"

"Oh shut the f…. seriously, what?!"

"There's another stage of the Reppuzan… Something that would not cut in half, but rend asunder not that little hill, but something ten times bigger. I don't even know the name of that technique, but I failed to master it…"

Mio did something unexpected – she hugged Toshiro from behind. He felt her firm breasts pressing against his back, although they both were wearing thick clothes.

"Mio… What…"

"Shhh… Toshiro… You deserve it… For all the progress you've made, you deserve it like nobody else…"

"Mio showing emotions… What has the world come to…?"

"Don't joke around… Stupid…"

_"You know what, Toshiro?"_

_"What?"_

_"I'll call the samurai lady by her first name now. She also deserved it."_

_"Nice of you, Yuki."_

_"I probably got too soft…"_

"Okay, Mio, stop already, I have to eat breakfast."

Mio let go of Toshiro and said, "Oh right… I snatched you away before you could eat something… You know what? I'll treat you to takoyaki!"

"Takoyaki…. Gaaahhhhh… Want…"

"Toshiro… Why are you drooling so heavily? It's just takoyaki…"

"Mio… I haven't eaten in a year… You know how I missed the taste of homemade dishes?"

"Somewhat… I made myself only drink water for a week... Never more…"

"Ahh… So you are also a connoisseur, Mio?"

"Since we are all being honest… Yes, I like to eat good food. Maybe because I can't cook for shit myself…"

"Oh well, you can't have cooking skills AND awesome fighting skills… Oh, wait… That would be me, Yoshika, Shirley… Lynne… Erica, Trude and Eila to some extent…" Toshiro said with a wry smile.

Mio bonked him on the head with her fist.

"Don't rub it in…" She said discontented.

"I miss them…"

"What?"

"I miss the girls… All the horsing around, drama, laughter, fighting together… My big and little sisters…" Toshiro said with melancholy in his voice.

"Toshiro, stop, or I'll get all mushy myself..."

"Okay… Let's go for the city already, before I'll start reminiscing even further…"

Following their tracks, they quickly got back to the city. Mio led Toshiro along the streets, to a takoyaki stand.

"Oh! The Major! The usual?"

"No, Takumi. Two extended portions this time!"

"Ah yes! You have a guest! Coming right up!"

The man named Takumi started dicing the squid and other ingredients.

Toshiro and Mio sat before the stand.

"Might I ask your name, dear guest?" The man asked.

"Yeah… Major Toshiro Edelweiss, Karlsland Wehrmacht."

"Well, well! Two Majors sitting before me… It's probably the biggest event this stand witnessed!"

After a few minutes, the two were eating.

"Dewishush!" Toshiro mumbled with his mouth full.

"Toshiro, you are a member of the Wehrmacht, show some manners…"

"Showwy…"

"Hopeless…" Mio sighed.

"Now that we have eaten… What are you going to do?"

"I'll change into my Luftwaffe uniform, since it's the only one with long sleeves. And I'll go to Yoshika's school…"

"Okay. Have a nice day, Toshiro."

"You too, Mio!"

Toshiro came back to the Miyafuji clinic.

"Excuse me for the intrusion." He said upon entering.

"You are back? Took you some time…" Said Sayaka, peeking out from the living room.

"Mio treated me to takoyaki, how could I say no?"

"Have more room in that stomach of yours? I have sushi left from breakfast; don't want them to go to waste…"

"If Yoshika's cooking is half as good as yours, then there's always room!"

Toshiro went into the room and sat on the floor besides the chabudai. Sayaka brought him a plate full of sushi.

"Wow… I'm really getting spoiled here…"

"I have to care about my future son-in-law, so my grandchildren will be healthy." She said with a carefree tone.

Toshiro made a disgruntled face.

"Toshiro, don't make such a face. I'm half serious here. I won't hinder you in your advances to Yoshika, but you have to take responsibility for whatever you do to her, yes?"

"Yes ma'am… And if it pleases you, we didn't get past first base, if you get the reference…"

"I get it, don't worry. But you are not far from second, sleeping with her half naked like that… Nice body by the way, heehee…"

"Stop giggling like a teenager, Sayaka. You are a widow in your middle ages…"

"I'm sorry, mother…"

"I'll just eat up then!" Toshiro said hastily and began eating.

After eating everything, Toshiro said, "Well… I have a dilemma now… Has the student outperformed the master…?"

"Don't worry about that. Yoshika was very diligent and enthusiastic about cooking from her early days. She is especially fond of natto."

"Yeah… I know that already. Every time she had kitchen duty, she added natto as a side dish."

"Oh that little Yoshika…"

"Say, Sayaka, do you have any good books around here? I could really use a read right now…"

"Oh yes, you can use the books of Ichiro in Yoshika's room. But there a few in storage, follow me."

The stood up from the table and went into a closed room. Sayaka opened the door and said:

"This is our little storage… I kept most of Ichiro's books, since he left on Yoshika's tenth birthday… You will probably find some nice literature; Ichiro was an avid leader…" Sayaka said with a gloom face.

"How are you coping with Ichiro's death, Sayaka?" Toshiro asked out of the blue.

"It's been five and a half years already, I'm managing somehow… But each time I pass around this room I feel a needle pricking my heart…"

"You know… After I got the death certificate of my mother handed to me, I fell unconscious… The stress surge of that moment made my hair white as you can see… For the whole year during which i was training, every day I thought about my mother, but now, it's a matter of the past… I have been ascertained by the goddess that my mother's soul is resting peacefully in the afterlife, which made my heart feel at ease…"

Sayaka gave off a faint smile and said, "Your mother must have been a saint to you…"

"She was… She truly was…"

Toshiro entered the room. It had no windows, nor lighting, so he had to use Yuki's powers to see anything. He took a few books he found and exited.

"I see you really like to read, Toshiro."

"Always something new to experience with each new book, Sayaka."

Toshiro went to Yoshika's room and started reading.

_"Hey, Toshiro, I think you should start moving your butt, it's past twelve already."_

_"Okay, okay…"_

Toshiro put a bookmark in the book and went to dress himself in his snowsuit.

"Toshiro, may I have a request?" Sayaka peeked out of the living room.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Could you buy some pork on the way back?"

"Of course I can."

"But… heh… There will be a problem…"

"What problem?"

"I'm broke…"

"Ugh… I told you something about me being rich and all, right? And why didn't you tell me about it?"

"I don't need charity…" Sayaka huffed.

Toshiro grumbled and opened the chest, which still was at the entrance. He picked up the wallet and pulled out some money.

"Here, Sayaka, fifty pounds. Consider this a present from your future son-in-law." Toshiro said with a smile and winked. "And I'll buy the meat with my own money, don't you worry about that!"

"Well, when you say it that way…" Sayaka said silently and pinched the money out of Toshiro's hands. "Thank you."

"No problem… mom."

They both blushed slightly after Toshiro said that.

He went out of the house and into the cold and snow covered streets of Yokosuka. The sun was shining strongly, so his dark snow goggles helped a lot. After walking for a while, he came before the grounds of the Yokosuka 4th Girls-only Middle School.

Toshiro didn't have to grow roots while waiting for Yoshika, because the chime announcing a break sounded of only after a few minutes. He saw her darting out of the main building like a rocket.

"To…To...Toshiro! You came!" Yoshika said out of breath.

She was wearing a thick pink winter jacket, earmuffs, and something that made Toshiro a tad excited.

"Hmmm… Yoshika, do my eyes deceive me, or are you wearing black tights?"

"You noticed them? Heehee, I had to wear them, because magic alone couldn't counteract the cold…"

"Your legs never looked so sexy, Yoshika, rawr!"

"Oh you! Always some dirty thoughts! Why are you actually wearing a snowsuit?"

"Ah, I don't want to waste magic on heating myself… I'm a traditionalist regarding some matters…"

"Well okay… Are you ready?"

"Since I'll be only standing there in the middle of the class like a dunce, why shouldn't I be?"

"You could say a few words you know…"

"We'll see."

* * *

**Notes:**

**Chapter title – 'Ensiferum – In My Sword I Trust'**

**You all may think 'OP HAX! SHIN REPPUZAN!1onesix', but rest assured, Toshiro won't be running around and cutting down mountains all the time. :P**

**If you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]**


	4. Chapter 4 - A visit from afar

**Public service announcement: to the anonymous reviewer from Monday - sorry brah, i can't afford to update every two days like before...**

* * *

Chapter 4 – A visit from afar

Toshiro entered the school building of the Yokosuka 4th Girls-only Middle School with his face covered, being looked at with curiosity. He decided to sit in the corridor, leaning back against the classrooms wall. Toshiro used Yuki's power to eavesdrop on the lecture. It took long, but finally it happened.

"Miyafuji, do you have your homework for today?" A bored voice of a female teacher was heard.

"Y-yes professor!"

The class murmured as a whole.

"Oh, that's a new thing… Please, present it to the class."

Toshiro heard a chair being moved, and steps going in the direction where he knew the blackboard was.

Yoshika cleared her throat, and started reciting the poem.

"The sky was dark, the wind blowing strong

Every moment felt so wrong

Then came a guest, dressed in white

He entered the living room with all his might

He took of his hood, and to everyone's surprise

It was someone, who was thought that met his demise

My heart raced, many tears felt

When the guest before me knelt

With his white hair and crimson red eyes

Toshiro, my boyfriend, did from the grave arise

And suddenly everything was right

I can continue, fighting the good fight"

Not a single voice was heard during her exposition.

After she finished, the dead silence was still present, until the teacher started talking.

"Well, Ms. Miyafuji… A nice poem overall, but…"

"Professor, before you say anything else, please, let me do something."

"Okay, Miyafuji, but keep it short."

"You can come in!" Yoshika shouted so loud that Toshiro's ears were ringing.

He stood up from the floor and entered the classroom.

"Excuse me for the intrusion." He said.

He might as well could enter the classroom naked; he would probably garnered equal attention.

"And who are you?" The teacher asked.

"I'm the person in question."

"You? Impossible! Toshiro Akayama is dead; I saw it in the newspapers!"

Toshiro undid the hood of his snowsuit and took off the goggles and scarf of his face. Gasps could be heard from some of the students.

"Well, Ms…"

"Tamagami, Asuka…"

"Well, Ms. Tamagami, my body was never found, because it couldn't be found. I won't get into details, but I was… unavailable for the world. But as you can see, now I'm standing here before you and your students." He turned to Yoshika. "Hey, Yoshika, is this your last class?"

"Yup."

"Ms. Tamagami, if you could excuse Yoshika for now? We have to do some shopping…"

"No problem… Actually, class dismissed!"

"YAAAY!" The shout coming from over a dozen of teenage girls throats sounded across the classroom.

All the girls darted besides Toshiro and out of the classroom, except for one. A shy girl with dark long hair approached Yoshika and Toshiro.

"G-good morning, I'm Michiko Yamakawa, pleased to meet you." She said humbly and bowed.

"Michiko… Michiko… Oh! You are Yoshika's cousin?"

"Yes, Mr. Akayama."

"Oh pfff, please, call me Toshiro. And it's Edelweiss now anyway."

"Okay, T-Toshiro… Can I join you on your shopping trip? I wanted to buy some pork for dinner."

"What a coincidence! Yoshika's mother also sent me out to buy pork!"

"Really? Mother told you to go shopping?" Yoshika asked surprised.

"Yeah. Is it so surprising, or odd?"

"No, no… Just… I have trouble imagining you running errands around the town, heehee…"

"Ha… Ha… Okay, let us go then, all three of us. Goodbye Ms. Tamagami."

"Goodbye…" She answered totally spaced out.

Toshiro went with Yoshika and Michiko to the locker room, so the girls could get clothed and change their shoes. He didn't notice it earlier, but Yoshika had some sturdy snow shoes, probably a similar quality to Toshiro's.

_Except for the fact that mine were made by a goddess, not some bald shoemaker from Whoknowswhere._

When outside, Toshiro asked. "Hey, Michiko, know a good butcher around here? Things could change while I was… gone…"

"Well… Old Mayamoto has closed his shop, but there's a new one near where it was open."

"Mayamoto… I remember that mother always praised meat from that guy…"

"The new store has grade A meat, Toshiro. You can trust me on that!" Michiko said confidently.

"Then lead the way, Micchan." Toshiro said with a smile, causing Michiko to blush.

"Oh… Toshiro…. Please don't call me by my pet name… I'm embarrassed…" She said flustered.

"Heh…"

They arrived at the butcher, and after picking out good pieces of pork, it came down to paying the man. Toshiro pulled out the wallet, but instead of pulling out money, he asked, "What's the current correlation between yen and pound?"

"Hummm…" The man pondered. "Still something about one to twenty I believe."

"Oh, okay then." Toshiro said and pulled out the necessary amount of money. "Keep the change, I'm feeling generous today."

"Much appreciated, kind sir…"

Toshiro looked around to Michiko, and saw her searching through the pockets of her jacket fervently, ending it with her hand coming through a hole in one of them. Her eyes became wet in an instant as she realized that she lost the money she had been given to buy the meat.

Toshiro turned around, pulled out another few coins and gave it to the man.

"Here, I'm paying for the young lady."

"Thank you for your patronage."

Toshiro took Micchan's meat from the counter and gave it to here saying, "Here, I paid for you. You don't have to worry about giving me the money back."

While Michiko had calmed down a bit before, now she started crying with full force.

"Thank… you…" She said while sobbing.

"Is she always like that?" Toshiro asked Yoshika.

"Sometimes… Michiko is mostly a quiet girl…"

After she calmed herself down, they went out of the store. They split up a few meters further, and Toshiro could walk with Yoshika alone, if not counting some seldom-appearing pedestrians.

"So, how was it at school today?" Toshiro asked.

"Better than usual… Maybe because you returned heehee…"

_So she was depressed to such a degree… I feel so bad about it I want to puke…_

"Did my tutoring help you at least a weeeee little?"

"I aced the math pop quiz today!" Yoshika shouted with pride.

"Impossible! My girlfriend can't be this smart! Who are you? Give me back my Yoshika!"

"Oh stop goofing off, stupid, people are looking weird at us…"

"Meh, don't care… If they have a beef with me, they can try themselves with me…" Toshiro said while cracking his knuckles.

"Now, now, stop, or you will have one of those outburst of yours…"

"Hah, not possible anymore. The source of my rage has been tamed since five months already, so no way I'm going to flip out that easily."

"Oh? Do tell me more!"

"Well… I told you about the Sacred Flame, right?"

"Well, briefly… What about it?"

"It was an ancient power, which in its impure form hooked itself to the negative emotion, taking over control of the host. But during the battle with the Warlock, after I told all of you off, using rather harsh words for which I'm now ashamed, I managed to subdue the power of the Sacred Flame."

"Ooooooh, how did you do that?" Yoshika asked amazed.

Toshiro put on a subtle smile and raked in Yoshika closer to him. Looking down on the surprised Yoshika from above, with a soft voice, he said, "My feelings towards you were the key, Yoshika. If it weren't for you, I would be engulfed in flames of unquenched rage, and I would do who knows what…"

"R-Really?" Yoshika asked with rosy cheeks.

Toshiro patted Yoshika on her head.

"Yeah, really. Come on, let's pick up the pace."

"Okay!"

They jogged to the Miyafuji clinic, which resulted in Yoshika being out of breath and panting heavily at the doorstep.

"Yoshika, you are so terribly out of shape that it hurts me to watch you…"

"I… couldn't… train… bad…weather…"

"Oh well, it can't be helped…"

They entered the clinic, and they were immediately greeted by Sayaka.

"Hello, Toshiro! Oh, Yoshika? Class ended early?"

"Heehee… Yes mom, thanks to Toshiro."

"Oh?"

"I made such an appearance that the teacher almost fainted, so she dismissed class a tad earlier."

"Well, to see somebody that has been officially buried appear just like that… Anyway, did you buy the pork?"

"Of course." Toshiro said, and passed on the package with the meat to Sayaka.

She unwrapped it, looked at the meat with pietism and said, "My, my… You bought some good meat… Time to put it to use. Will you two help me?"

"Of course!" Toshiro and Yoshika shouted in unison.

Toshiro burped heftily after eating the pork ramen.

"Pardon…" He apologized.

"I deduce that it was good?" Sayaka asked with a sly smile.

"Of course! Our joint effort ensued the creation of a dish that could be awarded an award!"

A knock on the door was heard.

"Hey sonny, why don't you open it?" Grandma asked.

"Sure."

Toshiro stood up and went to the door. He opened it, and saw two unexpected guests from Gallia and Britannia, shaking violently from the cold. They had big suitcases with them, one for each of them.

"Oh, hi you two!"

Both Perrine and Lynne made big eyes and fainted.

_Damn…_

"Who is it?" Yoshika shouted from inside.

"Come and see for yourself." Toshiro replied.

Yoshika ran up to him quickly, and saw the two lying in the snow.

"OH! Perrine! Lynne! But what are they doing in the snow?"

"Methinks they are busy being unconscious. Furthermore, I think that I am to blame. Come on, take Lynne, and I'll take Perrine."

"Okay."

They dragged in both girls in the hallway, and Toshiro quickly fetched their luggage and brought it inside.

"Yoshika, let's bring 'em to the living room."

"Okay."

Lynne and Perrine were dragged to the living room, much to the surprise of Sayaka and Grandma.

"Oh my, where did you find these two?"

"Outside." Yoshika answered.

"The things people throw out these days…" Grandma said, trying to crack a joke.

"Oh grandma, don't be so harsh." Yoshika protested. "Those are my friends, back from the 501st. But I wonder what they are doing here…"

"Let's ask them once they wake up." Toshiro said.

Therefore, they waited a few long minutes, until Lynne started showing signs of consciousness. Proactively, Toshiro went out of the room and listened from the corridor. Sayaka and Grandma went out to the kitchen.

"Yoshika… I had this weird dream… I thought I saw the ghost of Toshiro answering the door for us…"

"That's not far off from the truth, heehee…"

"W-what do you mean, Yoshika?"

"You see… Oh, Perrine, you are also waking up?"

"Mmmmhmmhhhh… What happened?"

"You fainted outside and we dragged you two inside."

"We?"

"Ah yes, I was about to explain it to Lynne. You see, Toshiro returned…"

The silence that fell upon the room could only be compared with a grave.

"Yoshika… So the ghost I saw…" Lynne started slowly.

Toshiro stood up and went to the room, behind Lynne.

"It was me, Lynne."

She jumped up due to his sudden appearance, but quickly turned back.

"T-Toshiro? Is this really you?"

"Really me, Lynne. A bit changed, but it's still me."

"But you had a funeral and all the entourage!" Perrine shouted.

"Believe me, Perrine, not the first and not the last funeral without a body to bury or cremate…"

"And what happened to your hair? It looks nice being so long… And creepy at the same time being so white… And those red eyes…"

"The eyes are a result of my absence that I can tell. On a side note, the snake eyes now won't appear when I'm using magic. As for the hair… You'd better have some tissues handy."

"Huh? Why is that, Toshiro?" Lynne asked confused.

"Well…" Toshiro's voice changed to a neutral, cold voice. "It's a story about my personal tragedy. When I got back to Fuso, I was called to the base commander's office. The good thing is that I was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, and got to meet the Navy Chief himself. But then I got this…" Toshiro pulled a piece of paper out of his wallet and presented it to the girls.

They curiously studied it, and Perrine said, "Sorry Toshiro, we can't read it."

Toshiro took back the paper and put it back into his wallet.

"This is my mother's death certificate." Toshiro stopped for a few seconds, watching the pure shock on the girls faces. "The stress is suffered when it came to me what I just read cause my hair to be devoid of color… My mother died only a day before I arrived… After the funeral, I was so depressed that I tried to commit suicide while being drunk like a pig… I was only saved by Yuki preventing the gun from going off…"

As per Toshiro's silent predictions, the two were crying silently, with tears dripping down their beautiful faces.

"I told you, get tissues…" Toshiro said with a shy smile. "Calm down and you can tell me and Yoshika why you have come here, and why the hell are you in summer clothes, okay?"

The two nodded at him. As expected from girls with good upkeep, both had tissues with them. After wiping off their tears and blowing their noses, Perrine started talking.

"Um well… After we learned about your death, we wanted to go immediately to check if Miyafuji…"

"Please, Perrine, call Yoshika by her first name. Her mother is in the kitchen and she might misinterpret something…" Toshiro interrupted.

"Oh, fine… So, Yoshika, Toshiro… We came here to check Yoshika was, and to visit Toshiro's grave… But now that seeing that Toshiro is fine, plus hearing what we've heard, and I think Lynne will agree, I think the both of us should visit the grave of Toshiro's mother…"

"Thanks, Perrine. But now, I would like to know why the hell are you in your normal clothes? It's like minus twenty Celsius outside!"

"That would be my fault…" Lynne said while raising her arm. "I miscalculated how the weather will look here when we arrive… That's why we don't have winter clothing…"

"I can take care of that, I'm on a spending spree. So, Yoshika, what should we do now with our guests?"

"Ummm… Tea would be okay, Lynne and Perrine are probably still cold…"

"Did anyone say tea?" Sayaka said, suddenly entering the room.

She was carrying a platter with four mugs and a kettle.

"Oh mom, you are always the best!" Yoshika cheered with a wide smile on her face.

Perrine immediately stood up and introduced herself.

"Pierrette-Henriette Clostermann, but most people call me Perrine; I'm pleased to meet you, Mrs. Miyafuji!"

"Oh my, what a well brought up girl, heehee." Sayaka said while putting down the platter on the table. "And who is that young lady behind?"

Lynne positioned herself properly, and gave a traditional bow.

"Lynette Bishop, Lynne for short… Pleased to meet you…"

"You have such nice friends, Yoshika, be sure to take care of them. I'll be in the kitchen if you want anything."

While blushing slightly, Yoshika answered, "Thanks mom…"

They were sipping tea, and of course, Toshiro couldn't help to resist making fun of Perrine.

SLURP

Perrine's brow twitched frantically.

"Please, Toshiro, for the love of God don't start that again…" She said disgruntled.

"Heheheh… Okay, okay. So anyway, how are the two of you doing? Before I went for Fuso with Mio and Yoshika, you said something about restoring Gallia?"

"Ah yes, of course! Lynne and me are roaming around the country and supervising and/or funding the reconstruction efforts… But I'm in a pinch with cash lately…" Perrine said with a gloom face.

Toshiro looked at Yoshika, and received a nod in exchange. He pulled out his wallet, and pulled out a large sum.

"Here, Perrine, one hundred pounds for the reconstruction effort of Gallia."

Perrine's eyes were now the size of saucers.

"I… I can't take so much money, Toshiro. Even if it's for such a noble cause, I can't simply…"

Toshiro shoved the money behind Perrine's collar forcibly.

"Shut up and take my money. My uncle will probably send more anyway."

"Your uncle?"

"Oh right… You were probably on the ship while my funeral was held or you were too busy to hear the news… Or something… Well, prepare for a zinger: my uncle is the Emperor of Karlsland."

Perrine's jaw dropped right down to its physical limits. Lynne was also rather impressed by that statement.

"Uh…Uh…Uh… But…But… But that means that you're some kind of… Graf or… or a baron or something! Oh my!"

"Perrine, calm down, sheesh. First, I'm not exactly comfortable with being a nephew to the Kaiser, and secondly, I don't have any official title. I don't think that I'm officially recognized as a pretender to the throne. But you got me intrigued… Graf von Edelweiss… Sounds good…"

"Edelweiss? Isn't your last name Akayama?" Lynne asked.

"Oh, yes… Since I'm officially dead, arrangements had to be made, and I'm now, listen carefully, Major Toshiro Edelweiss, Karlslandian Wehrmacht, a mostly proud citizen of Karlsland."

"Oh okay, I'll take your money then… On a side note, we have time until Monday morning, which is the day after tomorrow. How should we fill that time?"

"Finish your tea and we will go get you some winter clothes in the city, and my mother's grave. As for tomorrow, we will see."

Everyone drank up their tea, and they went before the door. Yoshika and Toshiro got clad in their warm winter clothes, earning jealous and frightened looks from Lynne and Perrine.

"Umm… Toshiro, how are we going out dressed like this? We will freeze…"

"I got that covered, Lynne. Both of you hop on my back." Toshiro said and kneeled.

"Huh? What?" Perrine asked surprised.

"Just do it, Perrine, I believe I know what Toshiro is up to." Yoshika explained calmly.

"Well, fine…"

The two of them scaled Toshiro's back, and grabbed him by his neck.

"Okay now…" Toshiro mumbled.

A slight orange aura enveloped both the girls on his back.

"Whew… Is it me, or did it get hot right now?" Perrine asked.

"Then let's go outside, shall we?" Toshiro said and ran outside, with the girls protesting.

After a few seconds, Lynne asked, "Toshiro, are you using magic to heat us up now?"

"Yes. I actually had a similar power back in Britannia, but it worked more like a heater. This one on the other hand envelops me or any desired target I'm touching in something akin to a blanket of heat."

"So convenient…" Lynne said amazed. "But why aren't you using it on yourself?"

"And put such a nice snowsuit to waste? Nah… Speaking of which, let's go buy you some warm clothes."

When they arrived at the tailor, Toshiro asked him, "Is there anything warm for these two ladies behind me?"

The tailor looked curiously at the two behind Toshiro, measuring them by eye.

"Why yes, something should their size should lying around here… Pardon me for a moment."

The tailor started rummaging a pile of jackets, pulled out a nice violet one and handed it over to Perrine.

"Here you go little miss, try it on."

"Oh yes, thanks you…"

Perrine put on the jacket, and wiggled a bit in it.

"It fits surprisingly well, Mr. Tailor. And the color and style also fits me."

"I'm glad you like it. As for your friend…" The tailor's eyes wandered to Lynne. "I will have to find something a bit… wider…"

As the tailor turned around, Lynne grabbed her breasts with a wild blush.

_"Still a little on the shy side it seems…"_

_"Not everyone is such an exhibitionist pervert like you…"_

_"Is it me, or is Yoshika just gawking covertly on her breasts?"_

_"It seems so… I believe she has something for huge bosoms…"_

_"Oh right… That time she slipped her tongue when she got a tour of the bath… And I believe she was dreaming about Shirley's rack the other day…"_

_"See? What did I tell you?"_

_"Maybe she's bi-curious?"_

_"I wouldn't jump to such a conclusion… She pretty much loves you and only you… Although… If you two wouldn't come together… You never know… I'm almost sure half of the Witches in the military are crypto-lesbians…"_

_"Now you are the one jumping to conclusions…"_

The tailor returned with a green jacket and passed it on to Lynne. She put it on, barely buttoning it up.

"It seems to be a good fit…" She said shyly.

"Do you have hats or caps handy?" Toshiro asked the tailor.

"Yes, over there, please, help yourselves."

"You heard the man, go pick something."

The two girls nodded and went over to pick something for themselves. After a minute of viewing, comparing and giggling, they returned with some headwear.

Lynne picked up a gray wooly cap, and Perrine took a lilac head warmer, also made from hand knitted wool.

"Wow, you two look beautiful!" Yoshika shouted.

"I concur." Toshiro said. "No let's go to business…"

Toshiro paid the man, and they went out, and to the small cemetery near the temple.

He looked for a bit, but finally found it. The sleek traditional tombstone with the name of his mother was standing beside another one – his own.

"This is it you guys… The left one is my mother's and the right one… heh… as weird as it may sound it's mine."

Lynne and Perrine went forward, kneeled and started a 'Hail Mary'. Toshiro and Yoshika put their hands together and started praying.

_I hope you are really well in the afterlife, mother. See how many friends I have? They all came to honor you, because they are my friends…_

When the girls ended, Toshiro asked them, "I didn't know that the two of you are religious."

"Actually, we all in the 501st were somewhat religious; at least we were raised in such beliefs… We just didn't have time to go to mass and such." Perrine answered calmly. "I remember that before the two of you came, we had a talk about it. Lynne, Lucchini, and I are Catholics. The three from Karlsland and Eila are Protestants. Shirley is a Baptist or something like that, and Sanya is an Orthodox. The Major said she is a Shinto practitioner. What about you two?"

"We both are Shinto, right, Yoshika?"

"Uhum."

"I guess it's good to believe in some higher force in time of need…" Lynne said timidly.

_Believing in them is good, but depending on them is a waste of time, Amaterasu explained it to me thoroughly, and it layman's terms it looks like this – the gods actually give a fuck, but can't do shit._

_The world was created in equilibrium, but gods being unnatural beings threaten that balance with their very existence. For example, my resurrection would probably put a strain on the laws of cause and effect with such force, that an earthquake would have to occur and kill about a thousand of people to restore balance, but thanks to mother sacrificing her own life in exchange; it only gave a slight nudge to those laws. If for every divine intervention an appropriate price is paid, then everything will be all right._

_There are many gods governing this world, of small and big significance, but one might ask: why the fuck didn't they eradicate the Neuroi already? The answer is simple: an event horizon would occur that would plunge Earth into a gravitational singularity, which would rip it and the surrounding galaxy apart like a thousand year old parchment. Of course, there is a possibility for the gods to do so, but Amaterasu already told me the price: 98% of humanity would have to die to achieve such a wonder. Every living human over one year of age would have to perish for the Neuroi to be eradicated… And since toddlers can't take care of themselves… In about a week, the human race would cease to exist… Such is the significance of the Neuroi…_

"But remember that when the gods fail you, you have to stand up on your own." Toshiro said with a bitter smile. "Okay, now that we've paid our respects, we can go home. It's starting to get dark already."

Thus, they went in the direction of the Miyafuji clinic.

* * *

**If you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]**


	5. Chapter 5 - Hot and steamy

Chapter 5 – Hot and steamy

After their return, Toshiro split up from the girls and holed himself up in Yoshika's room, shooed away by his girlfriend herself. When asked about the reason she said, "We will be talking about… girly stuff… Shoo!"

_"Girly schmurly… What the hell could they talk about in private?"_

_"You could be one of the topics, Toshiro. Others would be sex, menstruation, usual gossip, fashion…"_

_"Oh stop there… I get the gist…"_

Toshiro decided to read a book until he is 'summoned'. One of the books he swiped from the storage room was a printed copy of the 'Miyafuji Theorem'. He opened it on the first page, there was a dedication handwritten there.

'I hope I will get back home soon, Yoshika, Sayaka.'

Awwwwwww….

There was also a printed dedication in the preface.

'To my best friend and fateful comrade, Lucas Andrew Edelweiss. Thank you."

_So they were so close… Well, another thread connecting our families… Time to read this stuff…_

Well into his lecture, Toshiro saw the door moving. A cheerful Yoshika peeked in.

"Oh, I see you are reading that book…"

Yoshika closed in to Toshiro and lied down by him.

"Did you see the printed dedication?"

"Well, I remember the written one; I got very happy that dad gave some sign of life… What was the dedication about?"

Toshiro flipped to the relevant page and let Yoshika read it.

"Oh… Wow… So this is what it was about… It seems that our fathers were close friends…" Yoshika said silently while embracing Toshiro and placing her head on his chest.

"Yeah… A shame we don't know the details… But anyway, I have the feeling you want something from me."

She tilted her head a little to look him in the eyes and said, "Heehee… Well… Could you prepare a bath for us? I don't want to bother mom… You know how to do it, right?"

"Somewhat… You have a hot tub that's directly heated by the fire underneath?"

"Yeah. You load the wood from the outside, there's a stack of it just by the fire hole."

"And the water?"

"A well is dug just behind the clinic."

"Okay you little devil, I'll do it for you. Want it hot or boiling hot?"

"Just hot will do it, like in Britannia..."

"Give me twenty minutes, and you three can soak yourselves in a warm bath all together."

"Heehee, thanks…"

Toshiro started doing his errand. Because it would be a hassle to always pull off shoes, he decided to use the Heat Aura on himself, and do it just dressed in a uniform and barefoot. After pouring in enough water in the bath, he decided to pre-heat it, and put his hands in the water.

_"Okay, Toshiro… Wait for it… Wait… Okay, now!"_

He pulled out his hands, and disabled the aura for a minute.

"Yes… The water is just right… Hmm… I have an idea…"

He went to the living room, where the girls were sitting and asked, "Hey, what about if I just heat the water myself, and don't bother with making a fire?"

They looked at him with wide-open eyes and red faces.

"Judging by your reactions, I'll go start the fire already…" Toshiro said sadly. "By the way, the water is hot already, you can jump in…"

Toshiro went out and started a small fire under the tub, careful not to overheat the water. Curiosity took the better of him, and he eavesdropped using Yuki's power.

He heard the girls chattering and the water giving off a silent splash.

"Hey, Lynne, Perrine, how is it?" Yoshika asked with high spirits.

"Pleasantly warm, but a bit crowded…" Perrine replied with a grumpy voice. "But… Maybe if we do something about those jugs of Lynne there will be more room!"

"Iyaaah!" Lynne shouted in panic. "Get off my breasts!"

"Oh stop it you two! Or I'll call Toshiro and invite him to bathe with us…"

The shouting stopped immediately.

"Heehee… I'm joking. But I would like to take a bath with him…"

_"Enough is enough, damn! I have to stop listening!"_

_"The gentleman has awoken in you?"_

_"I don't feel comfortable spying on Yoshika… It's… Wrong..."_

_"At least that… Stoke the fire will you?"_

A while later, the small panel above him slid open and Yoshika peaked out in the cold.

"Hey, Toshiro, you can bathe in a few minutes, I will leave you a towel."

"Thanks, but now go back inside, you'll catch a cold… Oh wait… You said you never actually caught a cold in your life."

"You remember that? Heehee… You can go in now yourself; I can't watch you standing like that in the cold, with bare feet and short sleeves…"

"Although you know I'm protected from the cold?"

"Yes…" She blushed slightly while answering and quickly hid inside.

_Yoshika is so cute sometimes that I have to check if I don't have diabetes soon…_

Toshiro went inside after a few minutes, and saw the dressed girls drying their hair with towels.

"Thank you for the bath, Toshiro." Lynne said as soon as she spotted him.

"No problem. I'll go take a dip myself now."

He entered the steamy bath alone and undressed himself. He sat on a small stool, poured water over his body, and started soaping himself.

Suddenly he felt warm frail hands on his back.

"Yoshika… Why are you here, you little pervert?"

"Well… I wanted to show you how to wash such long hair…"

"But you have short hair yourself."

"When mother was younger, she wore her hair loose. It was as long as yours, so I always helped her washing it…"

"Heh… Okay, you can wash it if you like."

Yoshika proceeded with soaking his hair first. Then, she applied the first dose of shampoo. After rinsing, she repeated, rinsed again and applied some conditioner.

"Got it?" She asked.

"Pretty much, thanks. I can't wait to see my shining hair in the mirror. But wait… If I get in the bath like that, I'll ruin it…"

"Nothing I haven't thought about!" She said and pulled out some rubber bands and hairpins.

After a minute, she finished.

"That should work now. You can enter the bath with clear conscience, and I'll be going since… I'm not… accustomed… to your… hmmm… yet…"

She quickly darted out of the bathroom.

_"Still shy, huh?"_

_"She didn't see you for four months you idiot, how could she get accustomed to that dong of yours?"_

_"Valid point…"_

Toshiro went into the bath and relaxed. After a while, he exited, since he was too lazy to reheat the water.

When he dried himself up, he put on his clothes and exited the bathroom. To his surprise, the girls were waiting for him, and after they saw him, they started snickering.

"What are you laughing at, huh?" Toshiro asked.

Perrine gave him a hand mirror, still giggling fiercely.

Toshiro looked at his face, and turned his attention to his hair. Seeing his new hairdo, styled like he was a geisha, he almost bent in half while laughing. Sayaka and Grandma came to them, alarmed by the cackling of Toshiro, and they started laughing themselves.

A few minutes later, after everyone stopped laughing, Toshiro said, "Well, Yoshika, I have to say: you know how to pull a practical joke…"

Toshiro undid all the pins and bands restraining his hair, and let it flow down across his shoulders.

"Wow… You did a good job washing my hair, Yoshika… It literally glistens…"

"Least I can do for my boyfriend…"

After supper, the time to get to bed came along. When the four of them entered Yoshika's room, a problem arose.

"Yoshika… There's only one bedroll and one bed… How are we going to sleep?" Lynne asked timidly.

"Um… Well…" Yoshika searched for an answer, but Toshiro was faster.

"You two can sleep on the bed as our guests, me and Yoshika can sleep in one bedroll, since… well… she seems to like it…" Toshiro said with a wry smile.

"Eheheheh…" Yoshika gave of a dry laugh while scratching her head.

"I can sleep with Lynne in one bed, I don't have any objections." Perrine said in her usual 'I don't care' tone.

"I don't have any objections either." Lynne said. "But… Our night clothes are in the bags and…"

"Say no more."

Toshiro went and fetched the bags.

"Well… But now we would like to change… And… Well…" Lynne started reddening quickly.

"Yeah, yeah… Call me when you are finished…"

Toshiro went out of the room, and waited for the girls to call him. When they did it, Toshiro returned and saw the three in their nightgowns from Britannia.

"I see that nothing changed to be honest… Well then…"

Toshiro undressed himself before the girls, right down to his underpants.

"Oh! Toshiro… You changed a bit… Your muscles look more… muscly…" Perrine said fascinated.

"I trained hard all the time, so nothing unusual about that. Okay girls, bed time."

Perrine and Lynne huddled up together on Yoshika's bed and Toshiro into the bedroll with Yoshika.

"Goodnight everyone." Yoshika said.

"Goodnight Yoshika, Goodnight Toshiro." Lynne answered.

"Goodnight you two lovebirds…" Perrine said.

"Goodnight." Toshiro said to the two.

Toshiro received a quick peck on the cheek from Yoshika.

"Goodnight, Toshiro."

"Night, Yoshika."

They fell asleep embracing each other tenderly.

In the morning, Toshiro woke up just before the door to his room slid open. Surprisingly, it wasn't Sayaka. It wasn't even Grandma. The one who peeked into the room was Mio.

"Hello all." She whispered.

"Hi, Mio. What brings you here?"

"I have a surprise for all of you, but even I don't have the heart to wake up the girls. They look so cute…"

Toshiro took a quick peak around the room. Yoshika was sleeping soundly, embracing him with one arm. Perrine was sleeping with her back to Lynne, which pressed with her breasts against her.

"Wake them up, Mio. Let them relive some memories, heheheheh…" Toshiro laughed. "But first…" He said and plugged his ears with his fingers and nodded.

"RISE AND SHINE LADIES!" Mio shouted.

Perrine and Lynne stood up in attention in 3.4 seconds.

"M-M-Major! You here?!" Perrine could not believe her eyes.

"Major Sakamoto…. Uwaaaah… How nice to meet you again…" Lynne said half asleep.

"Huuh… What's happening, Toshiro…?" Yoshika said with her eyes closed.

"Mio came to visit us, and I guess you should wake up."

"Okay… uwaaaah…" She yawned and opened her eyes.

"Miyafuji… If you were still in the Nav…" Mio suddenly coughed. "Pardon… If you were still in the 501st, I would have you run laps for taking so long to wake up! You've become weak and mushy! Maybe a trip to the spa will liven you up a bit?"

_If she was still in the Nav…? Something's not right in Baltland…_

"Okay… When are we going?" Yoshika asked.

"Now! You have fifteen minutes, and then we go to the spa."

"Aaaaw… But we didn't even eat breakfast…" Yoshika moaned.

"Don't worry, I bought an all-inclusive package, you can eat until the food comes out of your ears."

Yoshika stood up immediately and shouted, "Then let's go!"

_What a change of attitude…_

Toshiro quickly put on his uniform and went out of the room so that the girls could get dressed. Using the time alone, he asked Mio, "Mio… I believe you wanted to say something different than '501st' back then, right?"

"Ugh… I'll only tell you if you don't tell anyone else."

"Okay, sure."

"Miyafuji was dishonorably discharged after what happened in Britannia… I never told her that… I actually lied to her that she went to the reserves…"

"Mio, Mio, Mio… Tsk… But you know what? She really doesn't need to know, let's keep it that way."

"I was expecting some kind of outburst…"

"Those times belong to the past, Mio. Since I assimilated with the Sacred Flame properly, I'm not a walking time bomb with a short fuse. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. And it's not like you hurt Yoshika in any way… Plus, considering what she did, I mean disobeying direct orders multiple times, I'm actually happy that Yoshika only flew out of the army…"

"I'm glad you are so considerate right now. A shame the 501st was disbanded… Now you would be a one man army…"

"The unit is disbanded, but the people are still alive. Maybe we should meet sometime…"

"Maybe… But for now let's think about that spa, shall we?"

"Did you pay for this?"

"Yes. Much like you, I have a little pile of cash. Since I was always careful how I spend money, and since the military provided me with most necessities, I have a nice fund going…"

"Fund huh… Say… Perrine said that she's gathering funds for the restoration of Gallia. I already gave her a hundred, but maybe you could also chip in? If she got another hundred from you, she would probably flip from happiness."

"Restoration of Gallia… Ah, what the hell, I can chip in. But don't tell her anything yet."

"Being awfully secretive today, huh?"

"A woman has to have some secrets."

"Heh… Oh, seems like the girls are ready."

The three approached them, clad in their usual clothes.

"Onwards! A day of pleasure and relaxation awaits us!" Mio cheered.

They arrived before the spa resort. Its look alone almost guaranteed the best quality of service.

"Ms. Sakamoto, are we really going there? It looks awfully expensive…"

"And it is. But don't worry, I paid for everything, and we can do whatever we wish."

"Finally a place worthy of me!" Perrine shouted excited.

They entered the building.

The five of them spent the whole day on eating, lazing, being massaged, eating, bathing in mud, eating and napping. In the evening, Mio gave a proposition, "How about some mixed bathing? I already reserved a bath for the whole evening!"

"Meh, why not…" Toshiro replied.

The girls looked at him as if he was a pervert prince.

"What… What did you do with the Major?" Perrine asked terrified.

"Oh… Well, Mio surprised me a few times, entering the bath when I was taking a dip. Aside from me now knowing the qualities of her naked body, and vice versa, nothing else happened, if you are concerned about that."

"But… How could the Major…"

"Perrine… You are doing it again… I'll be blunt: you swoon over Mio, and literally melt when she talks to you, but you don't know square shit about her culture. That's why you were always bitching on Yoshika: her making natto, slurping tea and bitching about the lamprey oil. And now this… If you'd have more info, you'd know that mixed bathing is a thing here… But whatever, where's the bath, Mio?"

She pointed before him.

"Dibs on the bath!" He shouted and darted forward.

"Hey! Wait up!" Yoshika shouted.

Toshiro zipped along the corridors, and ran into the changing room. He stripped in a second, and took a shower. Just before he ended, Mio ran in, and also stripped.

Toshiro darted out from under the shower and ran into the bath with a big splash.

"Ahhhhhh…." He said while relaxing.

Mio approached him stark naked, her breasts as big and firm as they were five months ago. She shook her head and said:

"Like some teenager… Eh…"

She entered the water just beside him.

"I wonder if the girls will muster the courage to join us…"

"Yoshika will probably join us, because of you, although… Let me ask you: how far did you go with her?"

"Kissing. Sorry, no bonus."

"Well, good enough…"

As Mio predicted, Yoshika appeared. But nobody would predict her attitude right now. She was marching forward, chin up high and her small breasts poking the air before her.

"My, my, Miyafuji! What an attitude!"

"If Ms. Sakamoto can bathe with Toshiro, so can I!"

She entered the water and placed herself besides Toshiro.

"You can embrace me, Toshiro…" She said red as a lobster.

"Nah… I see that you are forcing yourself to do this…"

"No… I really mean it… I'll even lead your hand, so you don't stray too much, okay?"

"Okay, okay…"

She took his left hand, and placed it just around her waist.

"There… Is that good?"

"Perfect, Yoshika." Toshiro said with a smile.

"Get a room you two…" Mio said disgruntled.

They both giggled, just as Lynne and Perrine appeared. The two were wearing towels and were walking rigidly towards the bath, Perrine hiding behind Lynne.

"Hey, you two, come in, the bath is big enough for everyone to fit." Toshiro said with a friendly voice.

"But… We… We…" Lynne started stuttering.

"You want to wee-wee?"

"No! You'll see us naked and…"

"Big deal… I saw you naked once already remember? I marched in while almost all of you were bathing."

"But…"

"Lynne, Perrine, are you going in the damn bath or are you freezing over there?!" Mio shouted agitated.

"Y-yes ma'am!" The both responded hastily, removed the towels and jumped in.

"Thank you for your cooperation…" Mio said sarcastically.

"Mmmmmhhhhmmmm…. This bath is so relaxing… Even better than the one yesterday…" Yoshika said in bliss.

"I'm glad you like it, Miyafuji. What about you, Toshiro?"

"A bath like a bath, sheesh… Only this one is open air, so you have a strange temperature correlation, right now that it's winter…"

As time passed, Perrine and Lynne loosened up a bit. The full moon was shining on them from the cloudless sky. Yoshika stood up, looked at the moon and said, "Beautiful… It's so peaceful and quiet here… I can't believe a war is going on somewhere at this very moment… It sounds like a lie…"

Everyone looked at her, inspired by those words. Then Mio stood up, and with a distant voice, she said, "Yes… However, everyone is fighting now, believing that one day, peace will come. Dreaming the same things… Hoping the same things… All over the world…" She made a brief pause and continued. "Also… It's not like using a gun is the only way to fight, right? Miyafuji?"

"Y-yes?" Yoshika tripped and fell into the water, surprised by the sudden question.

"What is your dream?" She asked with a smile on her face.

"My… My dream? My dream is… To use my ability for the sake of many people!"

Suddenly, Perrine stood up, and shamelessly shouted, "I want to reconstruct Gallia as fast as possible!" Then she started swooning and said "And I want to show M-Major Sakamoto all the beautiful cities of Gallia."

"I want the same as Perrine… I guess…" Lynne said. "I have to do my best to give all the people who evacuated to Britannia a chance to return to their own countries. And I want to be a good wife, like my sister Wilma."

"Oh, did she marry?" Toshiro asked.

"Yes. She married an officer from Faraway Land in October. Her shields wouldn't function anymore, so she decided to retire."

"Good for her…" Toshiro mumbled. "So, you want to hear my dream now?"

Everyone looked at Toshiro now.

"Very well then…" Toshiro stood up. "My dream… My dream is a world of peace, a world where all of you can live peacefully and fulfill our personal goals and dreams… A world where Yoshika and I can thrive without fearing what tomorrow will bring… And I will fight for this dream with my whole existence…"

"Hahaha!" Mio laughed. "Very well! Your own dreams are things only you can fight for! We may have different goals, but at the core, we are all fighting for the same thing. You are all fighting for the sake of the things you want to protect, just as much as anyone else! So today, you should rest well! To prepare for continuing the fight for the things you believe in tomorrow!"

"YEAH!" They cheered.

Toshiro looked at Lynne, which was gawking at his lower regions curiously.

"S-so… This is a man's… sausage…"

"Want to touch?" Toshiro said with a devilish smile.

"Waaaaah! Nooooo! Nooo way!"

'I wouldn't let you anyway; this piece of meat is now sole property of Yoshika."

"Hey!" Yoshika shouted in disapproval and spanked him in the butt.

"Oh! You are playing rough, Yoshika?" Toshiro said after turning around. "How about I start playing rough?"

"N-n-n-n-n-no thanks!" She said stuttering heavily while waving her hands in declining gestures.

"I think we had enough for today." Mio said. "Off we go."

They slept in the resorts hotel. Toshiro got a single room, Mio and Yoshika had their room, as well as Lynne and Perrine.

In the morning, they left the spa, and went to the clinic to fetch the bags of the girls. They went to the port, where a big ocean liner was waiting for them.

They stood before the ship, giving their goodbyes. Lynne was embracing Yoshika, both with tears in their eyes."

"Yoooooshikaaa…. I will miss you… I will really miss you…"

"I know, Lynne… I will miss you to, really…" Yoshika responded and wiped off the tears of Lynne's face. "You know what? I've been thinking and… Lynne, Perrine, Ms. Sakamoto, Commander Minna, Barkhorn, Hartmann, Eila, Sanya, Lucchini, Shirley and of course my Toshiro… We're all connected by our hopes and dreams! And by the will to protect something! We are all connected, under the same sky! So it doesn't matter how far we're separated from each other, we'll be all right!" Yoshika stopped and put hear forehead to Lynne's, which was now crying again. "Someday… I'm sure we'll meet again, Lynne…"

While Lynne was still with Yoshika, Perrine approached Mio and Toshiro.

"Um... Major… I…"

Mio interrupted her, patting her on the head.

"Perrine, you have a tendency to try a little too hard, don't overdo things too much, okay?" She interrupted and pulled out an envelope. "Here, something for Gallia, I hope I will visit it in its full beauty one day…"

Perrine took the envelope, and her eyes started running with tears after seeing the sum of money inside. She ran up to Mio and hugged her.

"Major… I promise… I will put this money to good use… Moreover, I promise, I will study the culture of Fuso diligently! I won't commit a faux pas again!"

"There, there…" Mio said and patted her on the back.

Lynne and Perrine boarded the ship and it soon left the docks, majestically sailing towards Europe. Yoshika was waving her hand, shouting behind the ship:

"Goodbyeeeee! See you soooon!"

As they were about to leave the pier, Toshiro saw an aircraft landing on the water and docking to the pier. It was a grey Blohm & Voss BV 222 'Wiking' airboat. The 3-bladed propellers attached to six Junkers Jumo 207C engines started stopping, as the 37-meter long behemoth slowed down.

Toshiro approached the plane, and a door opened. The one who looked out of it was an old acquaintance of his.

"Long time no see, Toshiro!"

* * *

**If you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]**


	6. Chapter 6 - Zum Dienst!

Chapter 6 – Zum Dienst!

"Adolfine? Oh hi! What brings you here?" Toshiro asked clearly surprised.

"Toshiro? Is that you? I almost didn't recognize you with that hair!" Adolfine, clad in a light winter jacket shouted back.

"Well, not everyone knows about my current look to be honest. So, what gives with this visit?"

"I told you I'd contact you in a few days, didn't I?"

"Well, hell, I thought you would contact me via radio or something…"

"And how could I do that? You are not a member of the IFN, remember?"

"Yeah… Huh?" Toshiro felt a tug on his shirts sleeve. "What is it Yoshika?"

"Who is that again, Toshiro? I think I saw her…"

"That's Brigadier General Adolfine Galland, the Karlsland Emperors advisor. She was at Erica's award ceremony."

"Oh, now I remember! She's ranked even higher than you!"

"Hey, what are you talking about there, huh?" Adolfine interrupted with a smile.

"Oh, I'm just refreshing Yoshika's memory. Say, what brings you here?"

"Hmmm… Can we eat first? I'm starving, and I could use some Fuso cuisine right now…"

"Don't worry, Galland, Miyafuji could probably take you in, right?" Mio asked boldly.

"Um, yes!" She answered.

Adolfine approached Mio, and unexpectedly they shook their hands.

"You have grown quite nicely, Mio."

"And you didn't age a bit, Galland, hahaha!"

Toshiro tilted his head in surprise.

"Um… Could it be that the two of you know each other?" He asked.

"Why yes we do, Toshiro. Back in '37, I was visiting Fuso and by chance I helped Mio with her training."

"Yes… Galland helped me improve my Magic Eye ability…"

"And she is now better than me in that manner!" Adolfine shouted proudly.

"Huh, what? You have that ability too, Adolfine?" Toshiro asked totally dumbfounded.

For a second, Adolfine's right eye flashed purple.

"Yes I do, but I have to use the scope I always carry to limit my field of vision." After saying that she patted Mio on the back. "Mio on the other hand trained so damn hard that she can focus without accessories! Goddamn Fusan witches always try the hardest! So, let's go, shall we?"

They arrived at the Miyafuji clinic. Right on the doorstep, just after Yoshika opened the door, Sayaka peeked out of the living room.

"Oh, you are back, Yoshika. And you have quite the entourage…"

"Good morning Mrs. Miyafuji, I'm Adolfine Galland, and one could say that I'm Toshiro's boss."

"Oh my, did Toshiro do anything?"

"No, no… But could I please get some breakfast first? I was flying for almost a day straight…"

"Of course, please, come inside."

The four of them seated themselves, and after a brief introduction, Grandma disappeared somewhere. Yoshika went into the kitchen to prepare some breakfast.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Toshiro finally spoke up.

"So, Adolfine, what brings you here?"

"Are you eager to hear it, sheesh… Well, our Kaiser and your uncle seriously wanted to promote you to some absurd rank, and place you in the Rosario HQ… But I persuaded most of it out of him, and even modified the original plan a bit…"

Cold sweat appeared on Toshiro's forehead as she said that.

"And w-what would the modifications look like?" He asked with a trembling voice.

"You are to fly to Africa and join the 31st JFS near Tobruk in role of a supervisor. I think it will be be…"

The loud noise of breaking ceramics interrupted Adolfine. Everyone looked at the source of the noise, and saw Yoshika with her hands forward, as if she was carrying a plate. The plate itself was on the ground shattered, with mugs and sushi pieces lying on scattered all over. Yoshika's face was pale; her eyes lost all their shine. Her lips were moving, but no sound was coming out.

"Yoshika, what…"

"No… No… No.. NO!" Yoshika shouted and lunged at Toshiro, hugging him with all the strength she could find in her small body. "You can't leave! Not now! Not when we are together again! I forbid you!"

Toshiro felt as his shirt started getting wet from Yoshika's tears.

"Adolfine… You just made one hell of a mess now…" Toshiro said with a resigned voice.

"Huh?"

"You don't understand? Yoshika is my girlfriend, but you should already know that. She was waiting three months for me, living only with the hope that someday I'll stand at the door of the clinic and return. But then I was pronounced dead, and her world shattered like a those mugs and plates right there. When I returned, she looked as if she spent ten thousand years mourning… Just looking at her made me sad… And now you come here, and tell that you are taking me away through half the world…"

"I'm really sorry; Toshiro, but you should have known what you are signing in for joining the Wehrmacht. We Karlslandians are known to be resourceful, and we cannot afford to put such an asset like you to waste. If it is of any importance, your mission will only last for a month after you arrive. You are to assess and supervise the work of the 31st JFS both as an emissary of the Kaiser, and of the United Allied Forces."

"Ugh… Can't anyone else do it?"

"You are already approved by all people that needed to approve you, so no. Besides, you need to learn how the army works from another point of view, so you have a full experience. That Major rank you got can't be an empty rank; those were your own words, Toshiro…"

"I see… And if I refuse?"

"Then I have orders to take you there by force, or shoot you down as you stand…" Adolfine said with a grim face.

Yoshika started crying louder on that remark.

"Ehh…" Toshiro sighed heavily. "Why are you doing this to me, Adolfine…? Okay, I'm coming peacefully, since you have such convincing 'arguments'…"

Yoshika's grip tightened even further as she began to use magic.

"Please don't go… Please… I beg you… Toshiro…"

Toshiro hugged her back and said, "I have to go, my princess… Duty calls... I promise you, that come April, we will be together again, unless I get some other stupid assignment. I'll send you telegrams so you'll know I'm okay, deal?"

Yoshika looked at him with eyes swollen from tears and nodded.

"Okay…" She said with a barely audible voice, and her animal ears disappeared.

Toshiro looked at Galland and asked, "We are going right now, right?"

"Yes. Bring whatever you need with yourself, and let's go…" Adolfine said with guilt reverberating in her voice.

"Give me a minute…" Toshiro sighed.

Toshiro stood up and went to Yoshika's room. He opened his chest, changed into the Luftwaffe uniform and fastened the ammo pouch plus pistol to his belt.

_"You didn't protest, Yuki?"_

_"I'm okay with that, actually. Your relationship could actually benefit from a short separation…"_

He took the chest with him and went to the living room.

"I'm ready."

"Let's go then."

Adolfine and Toshiro went to the exit. Just as they were about to open the door, Yoshika suddenly shouted.

"Wait, Toshiro!"

He turned around slowly, and only saw a flash jumping at him. Yoshika kissed him with such passion that he dropped the chest he was carrying.

"That's so you won't forget about me…" She said with rosy cheeks.

"Now I won't for sure." Toshiro said with a smile.

As Toshiro entered the flying boat, he saw an enormous amount of supplies and gear.

"Adolfine, what gives with the stuff here?"

"Supplies for the 31st, at least those non-perishable. For food and water, we will make a stop in Gibraltar; the supplies are already arranged there."

Toshiro looked around further, and saw something familiar. He went closer, and his eyes reached the size of saucers as a familiar shape was recognized by him under the canvas.

"Adolfine… Is that…"

"What? You thought we are sending you out as some paper-pusher? Oh no my dear, you will also be fighting, alongside pushing papers. The African front is still in turmoil, despite the efforts of many."

"Well, now it makes more sense to be honest…"

"I wanted to tell you this earlier, but I saw the reaction of your girlfriend… Poor girl…"

"Anything else I need to know…?" Toshiro sighed.

"Since you will be the supervisor, you'll have power over the unit. Don't worry though, the commanding officer is also in rank of Major, so you won't have to feel strange about that. Furthermore, I was given authorization to give you judicial qualifications."

"But I don't know shit about military law, other than the fact that standing before a judicial officer usually means problems…"

"Don't worry about that. During the flight, which is scheduled for a week by the way, you will be learning from a book. When you feel ready, I will do an oral exam with you, and if you pass, you get the qualifications. Of course you may fail, but it would be good for you to have an additional ace in the sleeve, right?"

"I suppose so…"

"Oh, and… Let's take care of some paperwork before we lift off, okay?"

"Sure…"

Adolfine led him to a bench, on which a small locker was present. She put in down and sat on the bench, as did Toshiro. She pulled out a military ID, and gave it to him.

Toshiro looked at it. It had no photograph of him, and it didn't have his signature, but besides that, it was complete.

"You may wonder why there's no photo of you, right? I somehow anticipated you would change, heh… We will make a photo in LA, since I don't have the necessary equipment here." She said and passed him a pen. "Place your signature in the ID and you can take it."

Toshiro gave his signature and placed the ID in his wallet.

"Okay… Now, your military record needs to be supplemented with your thumb print and signature."

"Don't tell me you have an ink pad for that occasion…"

"I have, heh…"

She pulled out and ink pad and a small ink container.

"Unbelievable…"

She poured the ink in the inkpad and placed it on the bench.

"Okay, Toshiro, press your right thumb against the pad, and then stamp it in this box." She said while pointing to a specific place in his papers.

Toshiro did that, and it turned out well as expected.

"Okay…" She muttered and pulled out an envelope. "And this is your first pay, ninety pounds."

"Are you kidding me?!" Toshiro shouted.

"You won't get more, silly. You're only a Major…"

"No, I mean… Ugh, ninety pounds, what will I do with this money…"

"You can use it as TP if you'd like, I don't care…"

Toshiro placed the money in his wallet, which started looking fat now.

"Okay, what else do you have for me?"

"Eager, huh? I got some medals for you, two to be exact. And don't worry, they got reinstated to the living you, not the dead you."

"Show me them already, and let's start flying…"

She pulled out one box, and opened it.

"I told you about the possibility of earning the medal for your kill count, and here it is: the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. And here's the certificate for it." Adolfine handed him a piece of paper.

"Heh, now I'll have the same medal as Erica… And what's the second one?" Toshiro said and put the medal and certificate in his chest.

"This one is a treat, I assure you."

Adolfine pulled out another box, and opened it. Inside, was a medal, shaped in a so-called Maltese Asterisk, enameled in white with gold gilded tips. In its center, was a gilded disc with a woman's head, and 'République de Gallia' written on a blue enameled ring around it. Underneath the cross was a green enameled laurel, and above it was an oak wreath. The whole medal was attached to a red ribbon, which was further connected to a neckpiece.

"I don't know of this medal, Adolfine."

"The Republic of Gallia has gave you this medal for destroying the Neuroi Hive back then. This is the Legion of Honor in Commanders class. To simplify, this is the highest Gallian award to date, and the class of it is in the middle of the classification."

"If only Perrine was here… Anyway, is there also a certificate for that?"

"Of course!" She said and handed it to him.

As Toshiro couldn't read Gallian, he just placed it with the order inside the chest.

"Oh hey, Toshiro!" Adolfine moaned disappointed. "Won't you be wearing those? You are a high ranked officer right now; you should represent your Vaterland with pride!"

"As if I was listening to Trude… Okay, okay…"

Toshiro pulled out both of his new medals, and placed them on his neck in such a way that they were both visible, with the Knights Cross on top.

"Splendid! Now you look perfect! But there's still more!" She shouted with pride.

"You want me to look like a Christmas tree?"

"Heehee, no, but rules are rules…" She pulled a box. "These are your insignia, both normal and tropical variants."

Toshiro opened the box and saw a lot of epaulettes and collar patches.

"Any help with discerning this?" Toshiro asked.

"Oh, right. So, the orange patches are for tropical uniforms, so let's not worry about that." She pulled out one of the epaulettes and showed it to him.

The design of it was eight silver braided cords, wrapped on top around a silver button. The color of the underlay was light gray, symbolizing affiliation to a witch unit.

"This is a Major rank epaulette; wear it with pride, Toshiro. Here, let me attach it…"

Adolfine swiftly attached the epaulettes to his shoulderboards.

"And now, this is a collar patch, and as the name indicates, it's worn on the collar. Since you only have flaps on your uniform, it will present itself a bit better than on those high collars of some generals…"

The collar patch was a trapeze, with two parallel silver bars connected on the ends, with gold bars on top of them. The underlay was also gray.

Adolfine pulled out a needle and thread, and started sewing them on. After just two minutes, she was finished.

"There you go, pride of the Wehrmacht! I'll attach the insignia to your Afrika Korps and that long sleeve version of your current uniform while we are flying."

"Looking at you, I wouldn't say that you knew how to sew, Adolfine. No offence!"

She laughed briefly and said, "None taken, Toshiro. You know, besides being a soldier, I'm also a woman, so I have to know some things." Adolfine turned around and used the PA system. "Okay, Udo, we can start now!"

"Verstanden, Frau Generalmajor." A voice came from the speaker.

"Okay, Toshiro. Sit tight, we are going to Africa!"

* * *

**Notes:**

**Chapter name - '(ready) For service!'**

**If you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]**


	7. Chapter 7 – Aloha!

Chapter 7 – Aloha!

"You should take a break, Toshiro. Seriously, reading ten hours straight?"

"Okay, Adolfine… Uwaaah…" Toshiro yawned and put away the 'Military law and code of conduct of the United Allied Forces, revision three'.

"So, how is it going? Learning anything?" She asked.

"Yeah… The book is a tad stale, but I learned some nice things by now…" Toshiro said with a groggy voice.

"You should take a nap; you've read half of the book already in one go."

"You think so?"

"Yes, that's and order." She said with a smile.

"Jawohl…" Toshiro said and lied down on the floor.

When Toshiro woke up, he felt a strong aroma of coffee.

"I see you are waking up, Toshiro. Care for a cup of coffee?" Adolfine said while sipping coffee herself.

Toshiro lifted himself up and saw a kettle with steam coming out of it, a small gas fueled portable stove and a paper bag with the following text printed on it:

500 Gramm

Kaffee-Ersatz-Mischung

15% Bohnen-Kaffee

85% Malz-Kaffee

Schmidt und Sohn

"Malt coffee? Did Karlsland fall so low to produce such crap?"

"War is roaring on, and money is needed to purchase other necessities, not coffee beans… So you want it or not?"

"Yeah… How long did I sleep by the way?"

"Scientifically proven optimal eight hours. We have about three hours till landing."

"Landing where?"

"Ah, that a secret. You'll like the place though." She replied and winked.

Toshiro took a cup of coffee from her and took a sip.

"Hmmm… Not half bad… I imagined it to be worse…"

"What? Any unpleasant experience with coffee?"

"Heh… One of the girls back in Britannia, Eila, made coffee for our night watch witch, Sanya. She didn't pay attention, and made something akin to tar… Even Minna with her weird taste passed on it after sipping it once…"

"How did it end?" She asked curiously.

"Sanya had to lie down in the infirmary because of caffeine overdose, but apart from that nothing happened. But believe me, that coffee could be used to grease tank road wheels…"

"Haha… Oh…" Adolfine suddenly realized something, and picked up a packet from the floor. "Here, crackers."

Toshiro took the packet and said, "Thanks. But I hope we can buy something more… nutritious when we get on land, right?"

"I'm looking forward to it myself." She said with a smile.

After Toshiro munched down some crackers, he returned to where he left off with the book.

Three hours have passed, and the PA system started broadcasting the voice of the pilot.

"Frau Generalmajor, we are approaching our destination."

Adolfine pressed the button and said, "Verstanden."

Toshiro closed his book at about sixty-five percent of completion.

"A shame there are no windows here, Toshiro. You would probably pass out from the magnificent scenery."

"Now you got me interested…"

After a short while, the plane tilted as they were approaching to land. The landing itself was smooth and soft, Toshiro didn't even have to grab onto anything while he was standing, awaiting eagerly.

A few long minutes later, the PA system awoke.

"We are ready for disembarkation, Frau Generalmajor."

Adolfine bent over and pulled out something from the locker.

"Here, catch!" She said and threw something at Toshiro.

He caught the mysterious item with one hand, and looked at it. Those were Ray-Ban Aviator sunshades, in perfect condition.

"Huh? Sunshades?" Toshiro asked.

Adolfine put a pair of shades on herself and answered.

"Trust me; you'll need them here and in Africa."

"Where is 'here' actually?"

"Open the door and see for yourself."

Toshiro put on the shades and approached the door muttering profanities, but as he opened it, he immediately shut up.

Despite being in a dock, he saw a slew of palm trees and sandy beachheads, surrounded by azure-celadon, crystal clear water. At the same time, he saw an enormous amount of destroyers, dreadnoughts and aircraft carriers in the docks.

A hand fell on his shoulder.

"So, how do you like it?"

"Will you finally tell me where we are?" Toshiro said a little irritated.

"We're in Hawaii, Pearl Harbor to be exact."

"Pearl Harbor?"

"Yes, the biggest Liberian harbor off-continent, and it has an interesting story behind it. December 6th, 1941, the radars picked up a massive wave of Neuroi coming from the hive over the Midway Atoll. Every able witch and ship was sent to battle them at sea. Many lives were lost that day, but that sacrifice saved the people of Hawaii from an even bigger massacre. Imagine what would happen if the Neuroi would attack the unprepared islands next day…" Adolfine turned around and reached into Toshiro's chest, pulling out the Schirmmütze that fitted the uniform. "Put it on, or you could get a nasty stroke."

Toshiro approached her and took the peaked cap.

"You are caring for me better than my mother sometimes…"

"Think of me more as an aunt, okay?"

"Okay, Aunt Adolfine."

She shuddered when he said that.

"You know what, scratch the 'aunt' part, and just call me by my name… I felt like I have fifty year when you called me aunt…"

"Heh… So, where are we going?"

"While the pilots refuel and do maintenance, we have to acquire provisions for them and ourselves. And I believe you would want to send a telegram to a certain girl, right?" She asked with a sly smile.

"Right… So, starting with the provisions…"

"I believe the guys in the docks could provide us with all we need. But there's a problem…"

"What? You got only 10 Reichsmark in your wallet?"

"Actually I don't have anything…"

"Toshiro the money sack… Ugh…"

"Oh don't bitch about it now, you have more money now then some people see in their whole lives…"

"True…"

They arrived at the bases quartermaster. A man with a stern face was sitting behind the desk in the office. The name plaque said 'Kowalski'. When he saw the two coming, he stood up and saluted.

"At ease." Adolfine commanded.

"So, what are you looking for, General?" Kowalski asked.

"Provisions for four people, for a six day flight. I decided not to buy provisions each time we dock."

"I see…" He murmured while looking through supply lists. "Well, I think I can arrange something, but of course not for free…"

"Major Edelweiss is prepared to reimburse you accordingly."

"And that's what I wanted to hear! Follow me ma'am, sir, I should have something for you."

They ended up in a small storeroom, full of various goods.

"This is the special storeroom for surplus goods. Pick whatever you like, and Goldman over there will throw it into your craft." He said and then shouted. "Hey Goldman! You lazy bastard, come here!"

"Oy gevalt, I'm coming… What a chutzpah…"

A skinny, dark haired fellow approached them and saluted briefly.

"Goldman, you are to transport whatever goods these two pick up for themselves to their plane, understood?"

"Yeah, yeah…"

"What did I do in my previous live to earn such a subordinate…" Kowalski said with a heavy voice, shaking his head.

Toshiro and Adolfine started to browse through the goods, and they finally picked up a nice stack of provisions including two kilograms of beef jerky, three kilograms of crackers, four gallons of water, half a kilogram of real coffee, a dozen of canned peaches, eight tablets of chocolate and many more.

Toshiro had to pay a little mountain of cash for all those delicacies, but it was worth it. As Goldman was moving the provisions on a trolley, Toshiro asked Adolfine, "Hey, maybe I could send a telegram through the guys in the base?"

"I was just about to touch that topic. I see no problem, go and find their radio room."

Toshiro searched a bit, asked someone and finally found the radio room.

"What may I help you with, Major?" A young man asked him.

"Well, I wanted to send a telegram, if it's not a problem…"

"You have quite a peculiar expression on your face, Major… Is it about a girl?"

"Heh, yes… I left my girlfriend in Fuso…"

"Anything for a brother in need." The man said and gave him a piece of paper and pencil. "Write all the necessary info, and I'll make something out of it. I'm Steve by the way."

"Toshiro, pleased to meet you." He answered while taking the paper and pencil.

Toshiro quickly scribbled the following on the piece of paper:

TO: YOSHIKA MIYAFUJI, MIYAFUJI CLINIC, YOKOSUKA, KANAGAWA PREFECTURE, FUSO

MSG: EVERYTHING FINE. I'M IN HAWAII. I LOVE YOU!

He passed the piece of paper to Steve, which read it and said, "Well, concise and on topic, Major… You sure you don't want add more?"

"They say less is more sometimes. And I don't want you to pound that telegraph for the next hour, heh…"

"I wouldn't mind anyway, but if you say so… You can go now, Major, I'll handle this now."

"Thanks, Steve."

Toshiro went back to the docks, prepared to leave this little piece of heaven called Hawaii, but even from the distance, he could see the pilots jumping furiously on the plane's wings. When he came closer, he heard a wild shout.

"Verfluchte Scheiß Motoren! Scheißeeeeee! (Cursed shit engines! Shiiiiit!)"

Adolfine was looking at him silently, but then asked, "What's the matter, Udo?"

"Ah, Frau Generalmajor… Two of the engines got busted, and we don't know how to fix them…"

"Oh my…" She gasped. "That will endanger our timetable…"

Toshiro came right besides Adolfine and said, "I could help, but under one condition."

"Oh? What would that be?"

"That I can swim in the ocean afterwards."

"Reasonable request… Get to it then!"

Toshiro undressed his shirt, took off his new shiny medals and started repairing the engines with no more than a hammer. After an hour, he walked over the pilots' cabin and knocked on the canopy.

"What is it, Herr Major?" Udo asked.

"Check the engines."

"Jawohl."

Udo flipped a few switches, and all six engines started in perfect sync.

"Wunderbar, Herr Major! You are a true grease stained magician!"

"Heh, I prefer to be called a wizard, but whatever fits. You can kill the engines now. Percussive maintenance proved itself useful once again..."

The engines were shut off, and Toshiro jumped down to the amazed Adolfine.

"Well now, so it's true that you modified the Merlin engines?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Oh, the constructors of that particular engine types supposedly almost busted their heads banging on the wall after seeing the upgrade plans, realizing how close they were to making it themselves… You truly are a genius…"

"Everything I do is for the greater cause. So, care to join me in the ocean?"

"I don't know…" She replied cautiously.

"Oh come on! I always see you buttoned up from top to bottom; show some skin, will you!"

"Lecher…" She grumbled with slightly pink cheeks. "Anyway, I don't have a bikini, so it's a no-go." She replied firmly.

"Ah yes, that could be a problem…. Oh well, I'll go fetch my swimming trousers and take a dip myself. Nothing like a swim after work well done!"

Toshiro ran into the plane, picked up his trousers, and changed into them inconspicuously behind some of the supply crates. After exiting the plane, he saw Galland lustrating him from top to bottom with a tense face. After her 'inspection', she whistled and said, "Now I'm jealous of that little Miyafuji, my my… Such a body hiding under that uniform…"

"Having second thoughts about taking a bath in the ocean?" Toshiro asked moving his eyebrows up and down repeatedly.

"Oh no no no! You won't get me to undress that easily! And you have a girlfriend already, you hopeless pervert!"

"Heh… Having a girlfriend doesn't exactly stop me from admiring the beauty of another woman's body, right?"

"Ugh… Hopeless… Okay, fine. We will be making a stop in Florida, so if you behave, maybe you'll get something to 'admire'."

"Fine by me, Adolfine. Now pardon me, but I have to make a dive into the Pacific."

Toshiro jumped on the top of the plane, and running across the wings, he jumped off into the water in a perfect straight dive.

The view underwater was breathtaking, with the sun streaking from above through the perfectly clear water. He could saw various specimens of the underwater fauna and flora, including a big turtle swimming lazily, a swarm of colorful fish, and even pair of majestic sea devils.

Toshiro emerged from underwater and started swimming lazily on his back and switched to breaststroke after a minute.

"Hey, Toshiro, I think it's time for you to get out of the water already! We have to leave soon!" Adolfine shouted after a quarter of an hour from the pier.

"Okay!" He shouted back. "Fifteen minutes… I feel like taking my first bath in Britannia…" He muttered to himself.

He swam up to the pier and with and he swiftly jumped up.

"Impressive…" Adolfine mumbled. "But you forgot that we don't have towels, genius…"

Toshiro enveloped himself in the Heat Aura and in ten seconds, he was pepper dry.

"Wha… What was that?"

"Oh, just a little something I can do… I never told you the origins of my powers, right?"

"Correct."

"I'll tell you after I pass that exam of yours."

"And what makes you so sure you will?"

"Did you forget? I'm a genius!" Toshiro boasted shamefully.

"Very funny… Now get in the plane, Mister Genius, we have a thirteen hour flight to Los Angeles!"

"Jawohl!"

* * *

**If you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]**


	8. Chapter 8 – City of Angels

Chapter 8 – City of Angels

"I'm done, Adolfine." Toshiro said and slammed the book he was reading on the bench.

"Impressive, Toshiro… Since we still have a few hours, how about that exam?"

"My body is ready."

"I hope your mind follows…" She said sarcastically and pulled out a sealed envelope from the locker.

"Ordnung muss sein, huh?"

"Oh yes. You see, if I just made up questions on my own, someone could imply this exam was a sham and all. This way, even I don't know the questions, so no problem with that. Also, we will have the pilots serve as witnesses through the PA system."

"Sounds all right… Let's begin then."

Adolfine opened the envelope and switched the PA system to 'continuous transmission'. For each question there had to be a confirmation by the pilots that they heard in, as well as for the answers. The questions themselves were simple at first, but there was a mock situation presented to Toshiro at the end.

"Imagine that you are presented an eighteen year old witch in the rank of Sergeant that was caught red-handed while pinching food. The situation takes place in an outpost in Orussia, where the climate is cold, and the supplies are scarce. This is her first offence, what do you do?"

Toshiro pondered for a while and then he answered.

"First of all, I remove anyone besides me and the culprit out of the room. By doing that, I make an intimate and personal atmosphere, in which the culprit might confess his crime more easily. I wait until she starts talking by herself, waiting for her showing remorse. If she doesn't talk, I try to delicately persuade her into talking, and if she continues to be silent, I list every potential penalty that might be put onto her, sans firing squad. As for the possible outcomes: if she shows remorse, and outright confesses to do so, depending on her motivation, and taking into account that it's her first offence, I would punish her with a week to two of solitary. If she wouldn't show remorse, but still confess, then apart from a month in solitary, I would give her KP duty for two weeks after. If she would sit there like a dunce, waiting for gods know what, I would add two more weeks of KP to the previous punishment."

Adolfine looked at him, and asked, "Why wouldn't you threaten the culprit with the firing squad?"

"It's written in a wise book - don't judge or you'll be judged. Shooting someone for stealing a loaf of bread? Isn't that blowing things out of proportions? A good punishment is a mixture of both understanding and hard law. If you become too lenient, you may lose authority, and if you are too strict, you will lose trust."

Adolfine nodded her head at that answer.

"A truly magnificent answer… Okay… I hereby declare, that Major Toshiro Edelweiss has passed the exam with flying colors and has become a judicial officer with full consequences of that fact."

"Affirmative, Frau Generalmajor." One of the pilots said through the PA system.

"Congratulations, Herr Major!" The other one said.

"Heh… Thanks…"

Adolfine turned off the PA system and turned to Toshiro.

"I also congratulate you, Toshiro. You will make a great judicial officer. But I couldn't help to notice that your face changed slightly when I talked about the shooting squad…"

"Well, let's say that I have some prejudice against this form of punishment…"

"Please tell me more." She asked with a warm voice, full of curiosity.

"What gives us the right to handle the lives of other people? That's the first question you should ask yourself. The other thing is that Yoshika was a hair close to being court marshaled back in Britannia…"

Adolfine slid on the bench to him and embraced him.

"I see…"

"Hey, Adolfine, ain't you getting a bit too… informal with me?"

"We were informal from the second minute we met in Britannia. Don't you see me as a friend now?"

"Right… Sorry for being such a grump then. I bet you want to hear my story, huh?"

"With true attention."

"Well then, listen carefully, and I would like you not to talk about it to anyone, maybe besides uncle… So, it began…"

Toshiro started telling him his account of what happened to him since he first met the then unnamed snake. After he finished, Adolfine looked as if struck by lightning.

"Pfffuuuh… I really don't know what to say… I suppose I should believe in what you told me but… Your familiar can talk with other people?"

"Yeah. If you want to talk to her, be my guest, but a fair warning though: she will give you some weird nickname, and she can be a bitch sometimes."

_"Why thank you for the nice introduction, jerk…"_

"Well yes, I would like to talk to… Yuki was it?"

"Yes, Yuki, pleased to meet you, auntie." Yuki spoke through Toshiro.

Adolfine jumped up slightly.

"Oh! So it's true! Um, I'm also pleased to meet you."

"So, what do you want to talk about?"

"Actually… Nothing in particular… I was just curious about your voice…"

"Hmmm… So your curiosity has been satisfied I believe. Then I'll sign off for now… Oh, wait, don't try to seduce Toshiro, or I'll make you regret being in one plane with him, got it, auntie?"

"Okay…" Adolfine replied silently.

"Told you, she has a tough character… But she can be a real dear in tough times… She helped me so many times, that I lost count already… And it's convenient to have somebody in your head to talk to and not to be worried about your state of mind, heh…"

"You said you have a sword, but I don't see it anywhere. Forgot it?"

"No… It's just…" Toshiro raised his hand above his head and summoned the sword. "…that this sword is magical."

Adolfine jumped again.

"How did you do that?"

"My sword resides in a pocket dimension, and I can retrieve it at any time. It just takes a wee little bit of magic to make the connection."

"Can I… take a look?"

"I don't know… I never gave it to anyone, so I'm not sure if the sword isn't 'jealous' of me."

"You won't know if we won't try, right?"

"Suit yourself…"

Toshiro passed the sword to Adolfine, but at the same moment she touched it, it changed into the rusty, blood covered sword it was originally.

"What a rusty toothpick…" Adolfine said and passed the sword back to Toshiro. "At least now we know what happens if someone else tries to use it..."

When Toshiro grabbed the sword, it turned back into Aganaimaru again. He dispelled the sword and said, "You could still kill someone with that, but a Neuroi would probably laugh it's ass off if it had one and could laugh…"

"Indeed." She giggled slightly. "You should take a nap; we still have a few hours before we land in LA."

"I'd rather eat something first… All that knowledge that I had to intake…"

"Right, right…" She said and rummaged the pile of supplies that was beside them. "Here, take some beef jerky and canned peaches."

"And a can opener?"

"Whoops…"

"Heh, I have an idea…" Toshiro said and summoned his sword again. "Take the can, and just slide the top along the blade. But be careful, the edge is so sharp, that, citing the goddess, it can cut bonds between atoms."

"Okay, I will watch out." She said and took the can.

Adolfine carefully placed the edge of the can along the blade, and pushed the can against it. The aluminum container surrendered in an instant. The aroma of peaches wafted out of the can, squirming itself it the noses of Toshiro and Adolfine.

"My, my… It really is sharp… I only applied enough force to move the can forward…"

"I know, right? Once, while I was training, the sword slipped out of my sweaty palms and rammed straight through an enormous rock… Anyway, have a peach, if they taste at least half as good as they smell, I'll probably eat them alone. And dibs on the juice!"

Adolfine fished out a quarter of a peach and nibbled on it.

"Delicious!" She shouted in joy and stuffed the whole quarter in her mouth. "And sho shweeeet…"

"So you have a sweet tooth, Adolfine?" Toshiro asked with a wry smile.

Adolfine swallowed the peach and answered, "Yes… I hate myself for that…"

"Nothing to be ashamed, Erica is also gaga about sweets."

"Erica Hartmann? The very same that was awarded by the Kaiser back then?"

"Yeah, the very same. Not only does she love sweets, but she is also sweet as a person. We even treat each other as 'ersatz' siblings, heh…" Toshiro said with a distant yet warm voice. "Probably the only Karlslandian in the 501st that isn't such a martinet, heheheh…"

Adolfine puffed her cheeks and said, "Hey! A true soldier of Karlsland…"

"Yeah, yeah… I know the drill…" Toshiro interrupted. "Trude was using that phrase whenever Erica starts going her way…"

"Trude?"

"Gertrud Barkhorn. She is tough on the outside, but when you get on your soft side, she is a really caring person. And an incurable siscon…"

"Ah yes, I heard about Gertrud and her sister… Tragic story, but it came out rather well… Say, what is your impression on Minna, your former commander?"

"Minna? To be honest, our work relationship started like hell. Until certain events, which thank gods, happened soon, she treated me like dirt."

"Why's that?"

"She was misandric from top to bottom, because she lost her boyfriend during Operation Dynamo, and acted it out on the rest of the male race. However, after she tried to shoot me, and after me putting on a dramatic show, she calmed down and acknowledged me. We even drank a Brüderschaft the next morning. Minna is a very loving person, but she can be strict when the situation needs it."

"She tried to shoot you?!"

"I doubt she meant it, but the gun was loaded, that's for sure. But please, keep that a secret."

"Okay… Finish your food and take a nap, I have to finish some paperwork."

"Sure."

Toshiro ate the peaches and beef jerky, and drank the peach juice from the can.

_A peculiar combination, but rather tasty…_

He lied down on the floor and drifted away.

Toshiro felt as he was poked in the side.

"Hey, sleepy head, we are landing."

"Uhhhmmmm…" Toshiro mumbled. "Okay…"

After a few minutes, the planes stopped, and Adolfine opened the door. Both of them stepped out on the peer.

"This is the Port of Los Angeles, Toshiro, a rather quickly developing establishment. Well, time for us to split. I'll go do some shopping of my own, you do whatever you like. We will meet at this place in three hours."

"Not much time to sightsee… And I believe you are broke, dear Adolfine…."

Within a split second, Adolfine's face changed to a begging look of a small puppy.

"You know that the roles should be reversed, right? Ugh…" Toshiro pulled out his wallet, and picked out five pounds. "Here, knock yourself out."

"Thanks… I'll repay you someday…" She said flustered.

"Whatever… So, off I go…"

Toshiro wandered around LA aimlessly, when a sudden idea crossed his mind. After a few minutes of wandering, he found a bar called 'The Sham Crock'.

Upon entering, he saw a copy of the 'The Lazy Mutt', with the same atmosphere and clientele. The only difference was the absence of a behemoth like Wayne, and the bartender was different. He was a tall man, slightly overweight. He had an enormous beard and long hair, all red.

"What can I 'elp you with?" He asked with an accent like Angus from London.

"Gimme a pint of your best lager Mr…"

"Red. Most people call me Red. Pay up first.

Toshiro slammed a shilling on the counter and said, "Keep the change, good man."

"Ho ho! A spender! Why don't you spend a beer to that guy over there, he looks like the will to live has left 'im."

Toshiro looked at a lonely man sitting at a table. His bowler hat was lying on the table, and the man himself was hiding his face in his hands, that were also supporting his head.

"So be it." Toshiro said.

The red bartender filled two big mugs with golden beer, and gave them to him. Toshiro took both, and sat at the table with the poor looking guy.

"Here, I have a beer for you."

"I don't think a beer will help with my problem…" The man muttered, with his face still hidden.

"What could possibly happen for a person to have such a depression?"

"Oh well… I might as well tell it to you… You see, a few months ago I started filming a movie. It was a parody called 'The Kaiser'. It featured the Emperor of Karlsland as an oaf, with his nephew, another dunce, on a cruise ship. I casted Laurel and Hardy for the main roles, it was a sure hit. But then, something unexpected happened. On the day of the premiere, news came in. It appears, that the Emperor, what a fucking coincidence, really had a nephew, hidden from the world, and that the said nephew was buried just yesterday! Jesus fucking Christ, what bad luck! After the movie was screened in a few theaters, word got out, and my movie was boycotted, and most of Karlsland wants me dead… Now I'm sitting here, taking refuge in this bar…"

"Hmmm… You know what? Look at me."

"And what will that accomplish?"

"Don't know. But look at me, now."

The man raised his face, a face of a middle-aged man with a toothbrush moustache. Toshiro immediately recognized him, he saw him as an actor in a few movies that were screened in the base in Yokosuka on few occasions.

"Mr. Chaplin? You made such a movie?" Toshiro asked surprised.

"Yes, and I'm ashame… Wait… Wait a minute… No… No… No fucking way… I saw the picture in the obituary… You are dead… Jesusmaryjoseph…" Chaplin panicked

"Calm down, Mr. Chaplin. I'm not dead, and I'm not here to seek vengeance. I didn't see your movie, but I intend to. Laurel and Hardy are one of my favorite pairs of actors. Making a parody is always fun, as long as it's in good taste. And you couldn't have known about me, because I that family connection of mine was uber-secret. As for the backlash after the movie… I can only advise you to release a statement to a newspaper. I'll try to reach uncle and clear this situation, but it will have a price…"

"Anything! I'll pay anything!" He begged.

"Give me and my girlfriend and autograph, heh…"

"An autograph? Only a damn autograph?"

"Yup. Two separate autographs and I promise I'll look into the matter."

"Savior!" He shouted and pulled out a pen and small notebook. "You are Toshiro, and your girlfriend?"

"Yoshika. Y-O-S-H-I-K-A."

Chaplin scribbled two autographs quickly and gave them to him.

"Okay, looks good enough." Toshiro said and put them in the wallet. "Now, let's drink!"

The two raised their mugs and clanked them together. Both of them guzzled down the beer in one go, leaving a foamy moustache on their upper lips.

"Well, I should go now, Mr. Chaplin. Have a nice day."

"You too, Mr. Emperor's nephew."

Toshiro returned the mugs to the bartender and exited the taproom.

_"Yuki, how are we with the time?"_

_"You should return already."_

_"Damnit… No sightseeing for me…"_

During the way back, he turned his eyes in to the hills, and saw a big sign.

HOLLYWOODLAND

_Now that's something to remember… Remember… Fuck! We wanted to take a photograph!_

Toshiro ran around on the street, asking people where a photo parlor could be. In a few minutes, he found one, and was lucky enough for it to be open at this hour. He was even luckier, because there was an inventor testing an experimental instant camera for ID photos in that establishment. After a minute, he had a nice black and white photo of himself.

Toshiro returned to the pier at which the plane was floating, and saw that Adolfine was already there. Upon getting closer, he saw that she had a paper bag with a 'Chanel' logo on it.

"So, Adolfine how's your shopping?"

"Good, good… And your trip?"

"I had a beer with Charlie Chaplin."

"That shitty director? Argh, let me at him!"

"Was that movie that bad?"

"Honestly? It was nice and funny, but it was released at such a time that it overshadowed every quality it had for us Karlslandians…"

"Well, I promised I'll intervene on his behalf at uncle. He made many good movies, and starred in many more. He deserves a pardon, Adolfine."

"You and your sense of morality… Okay, fine, whatever. When we'll be in Florida, I'll try to persuade somebody in a military base to let you talk to the Kaiser."

"Thanks. What did you buy, by the way?"

"It's a secret…" She said while blushing slightly. "Get in; we have a twelve hour flight before us."

"Sure thing, Adolfine."

Thus, the two of them entered the plane, and flew off in the direction of Florida, lit by the orange sun hiding behind the horizon.

* * *

**If you didn't watch any movies with Charlie Chaplin or Laurel and Hardy, shame on you!**

**And if you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]**


	9. Chapter 9 – Promiscuity

Chapter 9 – Promiscuity

"Hey, Toshiro…"

"What?"

"Could you tell me more about your teammates from the 501st?"

"Why should I?" Toshiro said with a mocking tone.

"Oh come on… Tell me about them, I want to know something about the people you were working with…"

"Well okay… Let's start with Lynnette Bishop, called Lynne by everyone. She is a quiet, well-raised and polite girl. She is also the best friend of Yoshika, which she gave proof of just before you arrived in Fuso. She is an extraordinary sharpshooter, but her skills in combat are a bit lackluster… And… heh… if I may note, she has the second biggest rack in the whole squad…"

"Lecherous pervert…" Adolfine grumbled. "Go on…"

"The next would be Pierrette-Henriette Clostermann or Perrine for short. Physically the opposite of Lynne, if you know what I mean, but let's not talk about that… She has a hard personality, always huffing and puffing, especially at Yoshika, but that's probably how she dealt with the stress after her homeland got taken… When she visited a few days ago with Lynne, she was slightly more cheerful than usual, and still a sucker for Mio…"

"Wait, so the two visited Miyafuji and you?"

"Yeah. You saw that ship exiting the harbor when you were landing? They were leaving on it."

"Hmmm… And about Mio…"

"Well, it seems that Perrine took Mio as some kind of role model, or even deity, I don't know how deeply that goes…"

"Interesting… Go on."

"Next up, Eila Ilmater Juutilainen. A good and caring girl, but her affection mostly extends only to another one of my teammates, Sanya V. Litvyak."

"Affection you say?"

"First let me talk about Sanya. Like Lynne, she is shy, maybe even more so. She is also musically talented, and is the only one to do night patrol on daily basis. Oh, and she has her birthday on the same day as Yoshika."

"And that 'affection' you mentioned?"

"Well… The two are really close to each other… Something between sisters and…"

"You don't say?"

"Yeah… I hope they won't get in trouble for that?"

"Nah… As long as it's kept under the carpet, they can do whatever they please. Not that they can get pregnant from that, right?"

"A valid point. So continuing, there is Francesca Lucchini. She mostly sleeps all the time, in places one could not think of as beds. She is a cheerful girl, but with a fatal flaw…"

"And that would be?"

"Yuki gave her the nickname 'little boob devil' for a reason… She is so attracted to breasts that she gropes them on various occasions, with or without prior consent."

Upon hearing that, Adolfine grabbed her breasts firmly, as if guarding them from harm's way.

"What a little monster…"

"True, but it's hilarious at times… But anyway, her most beloved 'pair of melons'," Toshiro made air quotes as he spoke, "and figuratively speaking that would be the best word, are those of Charlotte E. Yeager, or Shirley as she wants to be called. Straightforward, sometimes even reckless, but she fits in the 'best buddy' stereotype. She is also a fine mechanic, a plane pilot and a speed addict. And…" Toshiro blushed like if he dipped his face in red paint.

"And? What did you want to say?"

"Do I have to?"

"Yes. Always finish a sentence."

"Ugh… Yoshika knows, Minna knows, you can also know… So, not boasting about it or something, we lost virginity to each other…"

Adolfine's mouth opened wide, as if the gravity pull changed suddenly.

"You… Her… Together…"

"Yeaaaah… You see, that day, she broke the speed of sound, and we had a party on that occasion… The amount of alcohol that was brought out to the table was a tad too big it seems… So after I went to my room, Shirley followed me and…"

"Okay, spare me the details… You didn't knock her up hopefully?"

"No, no… I 'abandoned ship' in time…"

"And Miyafuji forgave you that little… sidestep?"

"Yeah… We weren't so close to each other like now, so she assumed that what happened didn't affected our relationship."

"And didn't Yuki stop you?"

"Well, two things stopped her from stopping me. Back then, she didn't communicate with me, she just passively gave me power. And secondly, it appears that she can't control me if I'm hammered."

"Sound all right…"

"Say… Why don't we get drunk right now?"

"W-w-what!? No way! Idiot! Pervert! Mega pervert!"

"Hahahahahah! I got you there…"

Adolfine neared him and bonked him on the head with her fist.

"Moron… But… Say… Do I look attractive? Would you… do me?" Adolfine asked with her face reaching sun-surface temperature levels.

Toshiro looked at her with curiosity and said, "Uhhhh… Well… If I was a free man, you'd just need to say one word, and we would be fornicating like a pair of weasels. Remember how I told you back then, at my father's grave, that you are beautiful? I can repeat that anytime you wish, because it's a fact, but nothing can happen between us, sorry… My relationship with Yoshika is more important than satisfying my newly found desires… But that doesn't mean we can't be good friends, right?"

She stopped blushing and said, "Right… Hey, why don't we drink anyway, just for taste?"

"Okay, we can if you want it so. But I don't see glasses here, and I don't believe you have booze?"

"Au-contraire, Toshiro." She pulled out a hipflask out of the locker. "Schnapps."

"Glasses?"

She dived into the paper bag, and pulled out two tightly wrapped objects. Adolfine unwrapped them both, and revealed two beautiful crystal glasses.

"So you had it planned all along, huh?"

"Sort of… I purchased the glasses on a whim while browsing through… stuff… I remembered that I have a hip-flask full of a new brand of schnapps, and I wanted to share it with you…"

"How kind of you… Okay, let's do it."

She poured some schnapps into the glasses, and handed over one to him. Toshiro guzzled it down in one go and said, "Hmmmm… Apfelschnapps? Good… Has a nice aftertaste…"

"Doesn't it? I'll order some more for my private reserve then. So… Take a nap; we should be in Florida by dawn."

"You won't do anything lewd to me while I'm sleeping, right?"

"Ugh… Go to sleep…"

"Okay, okay… Oh, wait a second..." Toshiro pulled out his wallet and gave Adolfine a photo and his military ID. "Do your magic."

She looked surprised at him, and at an instant, her palm landed on her forehead.

"Ah… You remembered, didn't you?"

"Barely. I was on the way back already."

"How did you get a photo so fast anyway?" She asked curiously.

"Some inventor tested an instant camera in his photo parlor. You should tell Adolf about it…"

"Hah… Okay, you can go to sleep now; I'll prepare your ID."

"Night, Adolfine."

"Gute Nacht, Toshiro…"

"Wakey wakey, Toshiro." The voice of Adolfine woke him up. "Tell me how do I look?"

"Wha…" Toshiro slowly opened his eyes and looked at her. "How should you look diff.."

He stopped mid-sentence when his eyes focused. She was wearing a simple yet sexy black bikini. It contrasted with her pale skin, and brought out something else to light. Adolfine was muscular, not ripped, and not buff, but rather toned. The curves of her muscles were slightly visible from under her skin, giving her an athletic look, and somehow making her well-sized breasts even more attractive.

"Adolfine…"

"Y-yes!?"

"Do you work out?"

"Well, yes… You noticed? I have my own private gym…"

"You look something like some amazon goddess… Is that why you don't show any skin? Afraid of rude comments?"

"Y-yeah… I'm not confident about my body… But I intend to change it, right here and now! We will go to the Naval Air Station Pensacola in beach attire!"

"Hohoho! That's the spirit!" Toshiro got up and pulled his swimming trunks out. "And now, I'll let you witness something."

"Y-you don't plan to change right in front of me, do you?!"

"Oh yes I do!"

In a split second, Toshiro changed from his uniform to only his trunks.

"Whoa! What was that?!"

"Remember our first encounter, when I jumped at you?"

"Yeah?"

"It's actually a time warping technique."

"Oh… So that's how you changed your clothes faster than I could blink?"

"Yup. Imagine the possibilities…" Toshiro said with a lecherous smile.

"You wouldn't…." Adolfine said with a cold voice and half-closed eyes, pointing a finger at him.

"Of course not… Yuki wouldn't let me, heh…"

"A familiar acting as a chaperon… Praise the Lord!"

They both laughed hard for a minute.

As they landed, Toshiro halted Adolfine before exiting.

"What is it, Toshiro?"

"Do you have my ID ready?"

"Yes, it's on the bench."

"Then give me yours too."

"Why for?"

"I'm taking our ID's and some backup measures in a waterproof bag with us. You don't think a woman in bikini telling that she's a General would be convincing, even giving the fact that you are a witch, right?"

"Heh… Well, you have a point there."

She gave him both his and her ID's. Toshiro pulled out the bag out of the chest, and stuffed the ID's inside with his wallet and the Mauser.

"Why the pistol, Toshiro? You have a magic blade…"

"But you don't, Adolfine. And the world is still full of scum, despite having a common enemy…"

"How thoughtful… Even considering becoming my assistant?"

"No. But if I could take Yoshika with me, I'd be glad, heheh…"

"I'll take your word for that, Toshiro."

As they were going out, Toshiro said, "Wait a second, Adolfine."

"What is it?"

"Take your shirt, just in case your confidence sinks. I'll also take mine, just as a precaution; don't know how the soldiers here could react."

"Always a step ahead… Maybe I should have let the Kaiser promote you to Generalmajor…"

She took the grey shirt she always wore under her leather flight jacket, and pulled it on, without buttoning it up. Toshiro also took his uniforms shirt and put it on.

They stepped on the pier of the air station and took a hike to the airfield, which was just a few hundred meter to the north-west. Upon approaching the gate, a guard came out of his booth.

"Halt, state your business."

"Brigadier General Galland and Major Edelweiss from the Karlslandian Wehrmacht. We wanted to use your radio equipment while our plane is being refitted."

_Refitted? For what?_

The guard looked skeptically at them, especially at Adolfine and said, "Any ID? I'm sorry, but you two don't look very convincing…"

"Told you…" Toshiro muttered to Adolfine and pulled out their ID's. "Here, please." He said and passed it to the guard.

He glanced through them, comparing the photos to their real life counterparts standing before him.

"Welcome to Pensacola." He said and saluted. "The base commander has his office in the second building to the left."

Toshiro took back their ID's and the guard opened the gate.

The two went on into the base. Both men and women were looking at the weird pair walking around in beach clothes.

"Adolfine, how are you doing?" Toshiro whispered.

"A bit uncomfortable… But the jealous looks that I get from the witches balance out those lecherous gazes by some of the men, heehee…"

They entered the building, which the guard pointed out. Following directions they landed in the base commanders office. The office itself was behind another door, this was the room of the commander's secretary.

A young female 2nd Lieutenant was sitting behind the desk, and watching them closely.

"Yes? What can I help you with?" She asked surprised.

"We are here to see the commander." Adolfine explained.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"Well, no…"

"Then I'm sorry, you can't see the commander."

"But…"

"No buts, ma'am."

Toshiro and Adolfine walked back a few meters and huddled up.

"What do we do now?" Adolfine asked.

"We have two options: I can either sweet-talk her, or we can just bust into the office."

"Sweet-talk her? You think you can do it?"

"Her eyes were always darting to me when you were talking to her."

"Okay, try it."

Toshiro turned around and approached the secretary.

"Pardon me, but may I know why we can't visit the commander? I would be really happy if I could visit him…" Toshiro said playing the sweet idiot, watching as his words hypnotized the secretary.

"Ugh... Umm… Well… Because… Uh…"

Toshiro started slowly flapping his shirt, unveiling his perfectly shaped muscles.

"Sure is hot here… Maybe you should fetch yourself a cold Cola, hmm?"

The secretary looked as if she was about to get a heat stroke just by watching at him.

"Y-y-yes, I'll do just that!"

She ran out of the room like a thunderbolt.

Toshiro looked back at Adolfine, which was stumped by what she just saw.

"My god, Toshiro… You would be a threat to womankind if you weren't in a relationship…"

"Heheh… Okay, let's go inside."

Adolfine knocked on the door.

"Come in." A manly voice responded her.

Adolfine went in first, followed by Toshiro.

"Oh, you are not Peggy? Who are you two?"

"Brigadier General Adolfine Galland and Major Toshiro Edelweiss from the Karlslandian Wehrmacht. We have a little request…"

"Major General James Harold Doolittle, but people call me Jimmy. And what could the request be? I'll fulfil any wish of such a beautiful woman."

Adolfine blushed a little and said, "We wanted to use your radio equipment, if it's possible in privacy, General…"

"A reasonable request from a reasonable woman." Doolittle answered and started writing something on a piece of paper. "Here, a permission."

Toshiro took the piece of paper.

"Thank you, General." He said.

"Since we have that behind us…" Doolittle said and reached under the desk.

A clang of glass could be heard, and soon three frosty bottles of Cola were standing on the desk.

"Why don't we take a drink? It's so damn hot here…"

"With pleasure, General." Adolfine said with a smile on her face.

The sound of three bottles being opened sequentially was heard. While drinking his Cola, Toshiro looked at Adolfine. A large drop escaped her mouth, started wandering down her chin, then her neck, and finally lost all its shape between her breasts.

"Uuuuuh… That hit the spot… So, how did you two get past my private Cerberus?"

"You mean the secretary, General?" Toshiro asked.

"Yes, her. She would let nobody pass if he did not have an appointment, and yet you succeeded.

"Heh… General, look at me, and take a wild guess." Toshiro said and retracted his shirt a bit to the sides.

Doolittle looked at him, nodded a few times and said, "I see… Hah, I'll be damned… It seems that her hormones are still stirring, hah! Nice one, Major."

"Thank you, sir. Can we go now?"

"Sure, be my guests. Exit this building and enter the one just on the left."

"Thank you again, sir." Adolfine said and they exited.

The secretary returned already, and an empty Cola bottle was visible on the desk. The two passed her silently, and went to the radio room in the next building.

After presenting the paper to the CO, the room was cleared, and only Adolfine and Toshiro were left. It took him a minute, but he finally reached Neue Karlsland.

"Hello, state your business." A familiar voice was heard by them.

"So we meet again…"

"Herr Major, it's you?"

"Yes, me. The Generalmajor is sitting right beside me, so don't try cheap tricks, and get me my uncle, pronto."

"Y-yes sir, please wait a minute…"

After a few minutes of silence, a jovial voice was heard.

"Hohoho, Toshiro, is that you?"

"Yes uncle, how are thing going on?"

"Good, good. The support of my people for me is at a historical high, the war is progressing, the economy blooming… Toshiro, what happened to you during those four months? You really gave everyone a scare, me included…"

"Yes, uncle, I heard about it… I'm sorry… Say, uncle, do you believe in gods?"

"I believe in the one God, is that important?"

"Well, you see, there's this deity from Fuso, Amaterasu… In addition, apparently, I'm her champion and all sorts of stuff… The reason why I was absent is that I was training under her watchful eye in another dimension…"

One could only hear the static buzz on the line.

"Uncle? You there?"

"Yes, yes… Just what you said was… A tad unbelievable, you don't think so?"

"Believe me, uncle, I saw and experienced things that no mortal has dreamed of… I would want to keep all this secret, okay?"

"Sure, sure… Anyway, what's your business? You didn't reach out to me just for shits and giggles, right?"

"Heh… Right… You see, there's this guy named Chaplin…"

"That movie producer and actor? Yes… I was about to take action in his matter…"

"What action?"

"I was about to pardon him officially, and all that crap…"

"Whew… I was about to ask you to do that…"

"Did you meet him?"

"Yeah, in a bar in LA. He looked like a wreck of a man, and he was truly sorry…"

"Hmmm… So that's why you are calling me?"

"Yes, uncle."

"Hohohoho! Unbelievable! My nephew is calling me to pardon a guy he just met for the first time! You really are someone, Toshiro. Don't worry, I'll release a statement tomorrow. Is Galland with you?"

"Jawohl, Mein Kaiser!" She shouted.

"As you could hear, yes she is… Might I add that she's wearing a bikini…?"

"A bikini?! You sly devil! You made her wear a bikini!? She never wore one in my vicinity!"

"She actually did it on her own… You want to talk to her?"

"Yes, let her to the microphone."

They switched places.

"So, Galland, how's the progress on your mission?"

"We are currently in Florida, awaiting for our plane to be refitted, Mein Kaiser."

"Good… Did Toshiro pass the exam? How is the paperwork going along?"

"Everything is in ordnung, Mein Kaiser. Toshiro aced the exam."

"Very good… Well, aufwiedersehen, both of you."

Adolfine stood up and yelled, "Jawohl!"

"Hehe, bye uncle."

Toshiro terminated the connection.

"Did you have to say that I was wearing a bikini? Sheesh…" Adolfine pouted.

"I couldn't help myself, sorry…"

"Let's go to the beach, I want to work on my tan…"

"Do we have time for that?"

"Yes. The plane is being refitted with extended fuel tanks and improved engine ventilation for the jump across the Atlantic, so we have a bit of time."

"Oh, okay. I think I saw a beach past the runway…"

"Then let's go."

As they approached the side end of the runway, they saw the beach, behind a five-meter high fence.

"Awwww… We won't get past…" Adolfine said disappointed.

"Pfffft, I jumped higher than that…"

"Wha… Whoa!" Adolfine screamed as she was grabbed by Toshiro in a bridal manner. "What are you doing?!"

Toshiro started running.

"I'm going to jump over, what else?"

"But… How…"

"You'll see."

A few meters before the fence, Toshiro focused his magic on his legs, and jumped over the fence with ease, landing softly on the beaches sand.

"Wow… That was something… But you can unhand me now…"

Toshiro let go of her.

They used their shirts as blankets, and lied on them in the sun.

"Hey, Adolfine, we should go. Tanning with your pale skin should be limited to an hour at first."

"Oh, okay…"

Adolfine got a little reddish from the sun, but was all right.

As they returned to the docks, Toshiro was that the plane now had big external fuel tanks on the sides, and additional air intakes.

"So those are the mods that were made… Are those necessary?"

"Yes. We have to fly about seven thousand kilometers, which exceeded its, but thanks to those modifications, we could fly for over eight thousand kilometers uninterrupted.

"Not bad… So, how long are we going to fly?"

"Twenty four hours, Toshiro. Don't worry, I have reading material for you." Adolfine said with a smile.

* * *

**And if you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]**


	10. Chapter 10 - Intel

Chapter 10 – Intel

After the plane started, Adolfine asked Toshiro:

"C-Could you turn around while I'm changing clothes?"

Toshiro put on a wry smile and asked, "Is that an order?"

"Yes. Consider it an order from your superior officer."

"Oh okay…" Toshiro turned around disappointed.

_"Lecherous perverted pig…"_

_"Oh come on, Yuki… Yoshika has barely anything protruding from her chest… Let me at least feast my eyes on some ersatz boobs…"_

_"Ersatz boobs… You would think everything up for your benefit, would you?"_

_"As long as it's not bad by definition."_

_"Okay, okay, I'll give you a dispensation… As long as you don't touch, you can look. But contain yourself, for the love of Amaterasu…"_

_"I always knew you were a good sport, Yuki."_

_"Calling a snake a 'sport'… Ehhh…"_

"O-o-okay, you can look back now." Adolfine said stuttering a bit.

Toshiro turned around, but instead of seeing the usual 'buttoned up to the neck' Adolfine, he saw her in her trousers, but with nothing on her upper body. The nipples of her perfectly rounded breasts were erected, and Adolfine was looking at him with a peculiar look.

"So, do you like them?"

"You are doing this on purpose, right?"

"Heehee… Yes, I want to rile you up a bit, since I know that you cannot do anything to me… A little payback for our first encounter, and also a way for me to gain some confidence."

"If it works for you… But please, put those melons in a basket, or I'll get a nosebleed…"

Adolfine smiled and put on a bra, and the rest of her usual outfit. Toshiro however had a devious plan in mind already.

"Hey, Adolfine." Toshiro said to gain attention.

"Yes?' She said while turning her head to him.

Toshiro pulled of his trousers with one swift movement, revealing his manly parts. Adolfine made enormous eyes and yelled:

"Pervert! Uber pervert! Exhibitionist galactic class…" She calmed down in an instant and continued. "Oh I'm kidding… Nice piece of meat you have dangling there." She said in a frivolous tone. "Put your eggs in a sack, or you'll catch a cold, heehee. And to be just, I'll return the complement: you look like a demi-god, or maybe a whole god… Like Adonis or somebody similar…"

"Hey, I'm a champion of a goddess; I have to stand up to it, right?"

"Of course. Now get yourself clothed, I'm starting to feel… Weird…"

Toshiro put on all of his attire and his medals, and sat on a bench beside Adolfine.

"You said you've got some reading material for me?"

"Ah, yes, of course." She said and pulled out a few folders out of her trusty locker. "Dossiers of the 31st, a bit incomplete, but you should get to know them a bit better; you'll be their supervisor and get to command them. A good commander should know his people, right?"

"Right." Toshiro took the dossiers from Adolfine. "Let's see… Keiko Katou.

Toshiro looked at the photo, and a gentle yet determined face of a girl from Fuso looked back at him.

Age: 25

Date of Birth: October 31

Height: 164 cm

Rank: Major

"Commander of the 31st JFS… Hmmmm… So this is the current CO of the 31st, and the one who I'll undermine if I'll have the urge?"

"Heh, yes… She was a participant in the Fuso Sea Incident, and had a 23 shot down count. We know each other by the way."

"She still fights at that age? Mio's shield is basically as effective as a wet paper towel now, and she's only twenty…"

"Well, the Fuso witches are always reckless when it comes to combat it seems, heh… She mostly does reconnaissance duty, and commands the rest in fight from a distance."

"Good enough… Okay, next patient… Hanna-Justina Wallia Rosalind Sieglinde Marseille… What a fucking mouthful… And she's got a look like 'kneel plebe, your queen has come'…"

Age: 17

Date of Birth: December 13

Height: 172 cm

Rank: Captain

"So, what's her deal?"

"She is called the 'Star of Africa', and that is an ambiguous nickname, because besides her exceptional combat skills, the press made her a real star, a hero for the entertainment of people. Exactly what you didn't want to happen to you, Toshiro."

"And I'm glad of that… Neeeext! What do we have here…? Mami Inagaki … Another fit-face…"

Age: 16

Date of Birth: February 14

Height: 137.5 cm

Rank: Warrant Officer

"Seriously, she's only that tall?"

"Don't underestimate her, Toshiro. Thanks to her magic she can carry an 8.8 cm Flak 18 cannon into battle as easily as you carry your cannon…"

Toshiro nodded impressed.

"Can't argue with that… Okay, next one is… Raisa Pöttgen. She reminds me of Erica somehow…"

Age: 16

Date of Birth: September 16

Height: 158 cm

Rank: 2nd Lieutenant

"She doesn't look like much…"

"She is the average girl, kind and caring. Especially caring for Marseille, if you catch my drift…"

"Huh? Is it 'that' relationship again or just worshiping?"

"You will always think of perverted things… No, she is just her… groupie, nothing more."

Toshiro opened the next folder, and only saw a brief note with two photos.

"Furuko Kitano and… Matilda… What, Intelligence had a free day?"

"Well yeah, one's only a Sergeant, and the second one is a servant to Marseille…"

"Servant?" Toshiro looked at the photo of the ebony beauty. "You know that sounds… strange in context?"

"Oh, no, don't get me wrong. She supposedly came to Marseille of her own free will, something about gods and stuff…"

"Weird… But hey, thanks for the intel on the girls, at least I know how they look. And… We still have about 23 hours of flight left, and nothing to do…"

"I only have this with me, sorry…" Adolfine said while giving him a book.

"V.I. Lenin, Complete works… Adolfine…" Toshiro sighed disappointed.

"Don't judge a book by its cover, Toshiro."

Toshiro looked inside and saw another title.

"Faust, Wolfgang Goethe. Well, what a nice surprise, I always wanted to read it."

"Really? Not mocking me here?"

"Really, Adolfine. Thank you."

Prolog im Himmel.

Der Herr. Die himmlischen Heerscharen. Nachher Mephistopheles.

Die drei Erzengel treten vor…

Toshiro sunk into the lecture, forgetting about his surroundings.

"And done." Toshiro said, closing the book silently.

"Done already?" Adolfine asked surprised. "How was it?"

"Truly a nice book. Makes you think about various issues… Got any more?"

"No, sorry…"

"No need to apologize. Truth be told, I'm a bit drowsy… Good night, Adolfine."

"Good night, Toshiro."

He was standing in the middle of the green fields of Amaterasu's realm, with the goddess approaching him slowly from the side, eternally beautiful as always.

"Hello, Toshiro, what brings you to me?"

"I wanted to ask you of the name of that technique I couldn't learn back then…"

"You know I didn't tell you of it on purpose, right? That's one of the key factors in mastering it, you must gain insight of it on your own. Besides, remember what happened last time? You couldn't lift the amount of energy being stored in Aganaimaru…"

"Yes… I remember…"

"Don't worry though, Toshiro. When the time comes, even that technique will be available to you…"

"Sure… Ummm… I wanted to ask something else…"

"Do it."

"Really?"

"Yes, I permit it."

Toshiro slowly approached the goddess and gently hugged her, like a child hugging his mother.

"My spirit is always so calm around you, Amaterasu…"

"The small speck of me in you is resonating with me, giving of positive energy, so you feel something akin to nirvana, only without enlightenment… You really miss your mother, do you?"

"Yes…" Toshiro said with a sad voice.

"Don't worry, I placed your mothers' soul in Takama-ga-hara, as a reward for her sacrifice…"

"Thank you…"

"Toshiro… Wake uuuup…" Adolfine's calm voice woke Toshiro up.

"Hmmm… Wahhh… How long did I sleep?"

"You slept for the whole remaining time; we are a few minutes away from the port in Gibraltar. And you had such a peaceful face when you were sleeping…"

"Did I…? Hmmm… Anyway, thanks for waking me up."

"No problem. As I got news, it's sunny and rather warm, so you don't have to change clothes, we are in the Mediterranean after all."

"Good to hear, no more stripping for you, heh…"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that… But let's leave that notion for now, prepare for landing."

When they got out, a crew immediately formed around their plane, and some entered it.

"Well, they certainly are diligent in their work… But tell me, how is this plane going to be loaded?"

"Watch and learn, Toshiro."

He saw that a crane arm was lowered over the plane with four chains hanging from it. One of the crewmen attached the hooks to the roof of the plane, and after a few seconds, the whole plane's roof was lifted.

"No way…" Toshiro said amazed.

"Way, Toshiro. This is a modified version of the BV222, refitted for unloading from the top. If you are concerned, there are struts inside, which you must have saw, that keep the rigidity of the whole construction. It's a bit trickier to operate, but it gives a better loading area than a top-opened hatch."

The two of the looked as the crane loaded palettes of goods covered with gray canvas. When they finished, the roof was installed back on it's placed, and one of the people, a well-tanned man with a moustache, gave them a shipping manifest.

"Want to take a look? You should, because you will be responsible for the cargo once I'll leave you."

"Sure, why not…"

Toshiro skimmed through the list, finding various foodstuffs, some liquor and tobacco. But the last two entries made him wonder.

"Adolfine… Why would they need a ton of fodder and twenty salt licks?"

"Really? Such things are present in the transport?" Adolfine asked surprised.

"Yeah, see for yourself."

She looked at the entries in question and gave of a dumbfounded look.

"I really don't know… But knowing you, you'll probably get to the bottom of this mystery, right?"

"Definitely. So, how much time till we land in Tobruk?"

"About nine hours. After clearing things with command in the city, we should be in the base of the 31st by dusk."

"Sounds like a reasonable timespan… And we actually made it faster than in a week?"

"Yes, we did. It was planned for a week, but we slept in the plane while it was flying, so we gained a lot of time."

"You wouldn't probably make us sleep in a lodging nonetheless, huh? A true soldier of Karlsland and the works?"

"Heehee, well… If you said it in the beginning, I would probably make us sleep in the ports we visited, but since you seemed to like it rough…"

"True, Adolfine… But now that I know that I could have slept in a normal bed, and not on a riveted piece of duralumin…"

"Truth be told I would have also enjoyed a bed… But what's the past is the past; let's just wait inside while the fuel is being tanked."

"Yeah, lets…"

They both went inside and waited for takeoff. After a few minutes, the plane started moving and they took off in the direction of Tobruk.

Nine hours later…

"So, Toshiro, this is it, Tobruk is only a few minutes away… Let's get dressed; our current attire won't work for shit in that climate."

Toshiro pulled out the Afrika Corps uniform from his chest. His new insignia were put on it, and, unexpectedly, the Fuso moon-on-sun was replaced with the palm insignia.

_Seems Adolfine did a good work with her sewing…_

Toshiro looked around and saw Adolfine in her underwear.

"Hey, don't look! It's a surprise!"

"Okay, okay…"

Toshiro dropped of his black uniform and changed to the desert one.

"Okay, you can look!" Adolfine shouted with a girlish voice.

When Toshiro looked around, he expected something along the line of his uniform, but he saw something slightly different. The trousers were the same, maybe a bit shorter, but the top was cut up just under her breasts, revealing her washboard stomach.

"Ho ho, Adolfine… What a daring piece of wardrobe… You wouldn't put it on just like that, right? You used me to gain confidence, so you could wear that skimpy uniform?"

"Heh, yes…" She said with a slight blush. "I don't endure heat well, so I had to modify my uniform a bit…"

"And a good modification it is."

"Say, Toshiro… From what I've heard, you were introduced to the 501st wearing a hood and mask, correct?"

"Yes, why are you asking?"

"Because I want to repeat something like that, but with the local clothing flavor."

"Ugh… Fine, whatever… Gimme the clothes already…"

Adolfine pulled out some rolled up clothes and threw them to Toshiro. He saw a long white tunic and some kind of scarf.

"The tunic is called 'thawb'. Almost all people wear white because it deflects the sunbeams the best, and in this desert climate, it is crucial. The scarf looking thing is called a 'kufiya'. You can wear it in various ways, but for now, you'll wear it in a matter that conceals your face. Now, put the tunic on your uniform, and I'll arrange the kufiya for you."

Toshiro put on the robe, and Adolfine wrapped the kufiya around his head so only a part of his face around the eyes was visible.

"There you go!" She shouted proudly and gave him his sunglasses. "Now put these on, and you'll look like a dictator from a banana republic."

"Heheh…" Toshiro let out a dry laugh. "Oh, we are landing now."

"Yes, I also felt it. Ready to begin a new chapter in your life?"

"Slightly unsure, but ready, Adolfine."

The plane landed.

* * *

**And if you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]**


	11. Chapter 11 – New and old friends alike

Chapter 11 – New and old friends alike

"No, no, you don't have to." Adolfine said when Toshiro grabbed his chest. "Just lock it; it will be transported to the base."

"You sure?"

"Yes. It's on the second shipping manifest." She said and gave him a piece of paper with a few columns of writing.

Toshiro skimmed through it briefly. He found all of his gear, ammunition for his guns, and various other types of munitions, probably for the 31st itself. There were however some few odd positions on the manifest.

"A trumpet? What would they need a trumpet for?"

"Bugle calls?"

"Meh, probably… Hmm… A radio… That I can understand… Ok well, I suppose I have to take this one with me?"

"Correct, Toshiro."

"And should I just stay silent all the time, or can I say something now and then?"

"Only when I permit you. I want you to make a better entry than with Mio!"

"Jealous?" Toshiro asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Ambitious."

"Well, pfff, whatever, are we going out or what?"

"Get your wallet and pistol just in case."

"Okay."

Toshiro attached the ammo pouch and pistol holster to his belt, and put the wallet in his right pocket.

"Good, we can go now." She said with a confident voice and opened the door.

The setting sun was being reflected by the white building of the town of Tobruk. The two of them, some shady big figure and a Brigadier General in a skimpy uniform ventured deep into the streets. They came across a villa, which was guarded like a fortress by the looks of it. Both Karlslandian, Liberian and even Britannian soldiers were guarding the premises of the small palace.

"What gives with the defenses of this place…? Last time I was here, only two guards were here, of which one drunk like shit… Come on, let's go…"

The approached the guard post at the main gate, and were immediately halted by the guards.

"Halt! Ausweiße (ID's)!"

They presented their ID's to the overzealous guard.

"Hmmm… Can the big guy at least show some of his face?"

"Sure. Do it, Toshiro."

He pulled of his glasses and slightly pulled down his kufiya. The guard looked at him and said:

"Gut…" He then looked at a list. "Major Edelweiss und Generalmajor Galland to visit Feldmarschall Rommel, ja?"

"Yes." Adolfine answered.

"Come with me, there's a… situation right now."

"What kind of situation?"

"You won't believe it until you see it, Frau Generalmajor…"

They were lead into the mansion before a big double door. The soldier that led them knocked on the door and said, "Herr Generalfeldmarschall, your guests have arrived."

"Ah, gut, let them in!" Somebody shouted back.

"Please, enter." The soldier bowed and went back the same way he came.

Adolfine opened the door and entered the room, Toshiro following her.

The room was spacious, and had a burning fireplace installed. Various hunting trophies were hanging on the wall, both of land and aerial game. A simple chandelier was hanging in the center of the room, giving out a dim light. Four people were in the room, three siting on chairs, and one on a wheelchair. Just by a quick glance at those sitting on the chairs, he could see that he found himself in a tight situation. Even the meeting at Downing Street was an afternoon tea party compared to what he saw here. The wheelchair man, which had a blanket on his legs, didn't have any insignia or uniform, but the rest were, from right to left: Field Marshal, another Field Marshal and 3-star General. Toshiro praised his goddess in his mind, because if he hadn't been wearing sunglasses, his eyes would be the same as Adolfine's now: big, round and showing utter surprise.

"Ah, Adolfine! Wunderbar that you joined us. We are currently drinking tea, care to join us?"

"W-w-w-what is happening here? Why are so many important people in one room all of a sudden?"

"I will explain alles (everything) to you, Adolfine, but please, introduce your companion; I believe everyone is dying to know his identity."

"Ah, um, yes, Herr Generalfeldmarschall!" She said out loudly and looked at Toshiro. "Don't stand like a dunce, introduce yourself." She said silently through clenched teeth.

Toshiro unwrapped his head and pulled down his sunglasses. His long white hair fell down and wrapped his upper body from all sides. Toshiro assumed a proper stance, saluted, and said, "Major Toshiro Lucas Edelweiss, Karlsland Wehrmacht, wizard and nephew of the Kaiser, heh…"

The reaction to these words from the people besides the Karslandian Field Marshal could only be described as shock.

The Liberian General spoke up first.

"Fucking impossible! Ike was at your damn funeral!"

"Bloody impossible indeed!" The Britannian Field Marshal joined.

The man in the wheelchair looked at Toshiro silently, but finally spoke up.

"Nothing is impossible in this world, gentlemen… Just tell me one thing, sonny - was it set up or some accident?"

"Nothing was set up, sir. My absence however is not a matter I can freely discuss about, but rest assured: no political, military or whatsoever intrigue was plotted around me."

The man nodded, and it was a nod of a wise man.

"I see… Well, I think we should introduce ourselves, because from your eyes I can see that you don't have an idea who are you dealing with, right?"

"Yes sir… I see the ranks, but don't know the people behind them, so to speak…"

"Then I'll start!" The mustached Britannian said and got up. "Bernard Law Montgomery, a pleasure to meet you!"

He took Toshiro's hand and shook it vigorously.

"A pleasure to meet you sir. How is Winston going?"

"You know Churchill?"

"Ah, well… We had a drink with him and Ike, and they invited me to play cards with them one day…"

"I understand. Well, he's still drinking like a water pump, and smoking like a chimney as I heard, but besides that, nothing changed in the last few months."

Toshiro turned to the Karlslandian Field Marshal.

"Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, but people call me the Wüstenfuchs (Desert Fox). A pleasure to meet the Kaiser's family in person."

"And pleased to meet you, Herr Generalfeldmarschall."

They took a manly handshake, and the Liberion General approached.

"So… You are the Karlslandian Emperors nephew… Not too shabby, I have to admit… Put up your dukes, I want to see if you're a real man." The elderly looking Lieutenant General said to him.

"General… I'd abstain from that idea if I were you…" Toshiro tried to talk out the General out of it.

"Chickening out already? Pffft! What kind of man are you?! Mommy and daddy didn't teach you how to fend for yourself?"

Toshiro's eyebrow twitched. Although he was now rid of the Sacred Flame's bad influence, he was still human after all.

"General… Really… I wouldn't like to hurt you…"

"Hurt me?! A man in a skirt can't hurt me! Come on, I'll give you one free punch!"

"Herr Rommel, do I have to do this?" Toshiro asked.

"Just do what the man says; let's be over with it…" Rommel sighed.

"Okay, General… You'll get one punch from me, but that's more than enough."

"Just hit me already you damn sissy!"

Toshiro coiled himself and with blinding speed unleashed a hefty one-handed push to the Generals chest, making him fly back into his chair, surprisingly not breaking it.

"What the fuck was that?!" The General screamed.

"That was my weakest punch. Wait, it wasn't even a punch, it was rather a nudge…"

"God damn son…" The General said, stood up from his chair and approached Toshiro. "George Smith Patton, and may I never cross your path as an enemy…"

"Heh…" Toshiro looked to the man in the wheelchair. "I'll hope you don't want to spar with me, sir?" Toshiro said and giggled.

"Oh no, no… I'm just an old man in a wheelchair… But I probably should say who I am right now. Sorry that I can't stand up, but my legs are a bit busted… Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of Liberion." The man said with a smile.

"P-p-president of Liberion?! But how… here… now?!"

"I was returning from a conference in Europe, and my flying boat broke down near Tobruk. Now I'm waiting in this villa for it to be repaired."

"A true honor to meet you, sir!" Toshiro shouted.

"Likewise." Roosevelt said and extended his frail arm to Toshiro.

He grabbed it gently, and then Yuki spoke to him, _"Toshiro… This man… He's not going to live long…"_

_"What are you saying, Yuki? He doesn't look that bad…"_

_"I can feel it, Toshiro. He may look sort of lively, but his life force is fading…"_

_"Hmmm… A shame… Good that I got to know this man…"_

"So this whole racket with the guards is because of you, Mr. President?"

"Oh no, I wouldn't claim all the glory for myself..." He responded.

"But your guards are either very open to people, or plain stupid, Mr. President…"

"Why is that so?"

"They didn't frisk me when we entered. I have a Mauser C96 and four clips attached to my belt."

Everyone looked at Toshiro with attention.

"That really is alarming, son… But frankly, I don't give a damn anymore… My legs are 'kaput' as you, Karlslandians would say… Maybe I should stand down already, Harry Truman is a good sport, and he'll make a nice president… If the people pick him in the election of course…"

"Oh please don't say such things, Mr. President, as long as you live, you shouldn't give up hope."

Roosevelt put on a faint smile, and said, "Maybe… Ike was right about you, you really are a fine lad…"

"Thank you…"

Monty suddenly said, "So, will you be joining us for this god damn tea or not?"

"I'm sorry, but we have to go now, it's getting dark already, and we want to arrive at the base of the 31st before it's too dark." Adolfine responded

"Oh what a shame… Well, nice meeting you two."

"Likewise, Field Marshal Sir…"

"The driver should be waiting for you outside, have a nice trip." Rommel said with a smile.

"Jawohl!" Both Toshiro and Adolfine shouted and left the room.

While they were walking to the gate, Adolfine said, "Whew… Finally I can breathe easily…" Adolfine sighed.

"Compared to our little chat in London, this was something of an even bigger caliber…"

"This totally surprised me… I only thought that Rommel would be there, but damn it, the three Generals of Africa met in one room, and with the President of Liberion to boot! You sure are attracting the finest people, Toshiro."

"Heheh... Well, I am unique and… Oh my, is that…" Toshiro saw the driver standing before the Opel Blitz supply truck.

It was a familiar person to him, a certain gray-blonde girl from Britannia.

"Horbie!" Toshiro shouted.

"Hey, don't go shouting just like that! Your face is exposed!" Adolfine scolded him.

Toshiro wasn't listening, because he was already running to Horbie, which was looking at him perplexed.

"Toshiro? But how can this be? I was at your funeral! I cried my eyes out back then damn you!"

She shouted in anger and suddenly slapped him in the face.

"Please, calm down, Horbie…"

"Oh… Okay… I'm sorry… But you probably understand…"

"Yes, I do… But if I were some stuck up martinet, I would have to report this, and believe me; I know a thing or two about military law…"

"Oh? So you are a Major, just like you were promoted posthumously?"

"Yup. And I also have judicial officer papers, so…"

"Oh come on…"

"Yeah, just teasing you… Say, you will be our driver? How did you end up here?"

"I will be your driver, yes. And as for how I got here… I turns out that Maloney had pulled strings to take me off active duty, but apparently Sir Churchill himself reinstated me, and… here I am, in Montgomery's witch squad. I sometimes drive supply trucks, if I am asked to, especially for the 31st, but mostly I'm fighting… Fighting like hell like some say, heehee…"

"So you are an acquaintance of Toshiro?" Adolfine said from behind Toshiro.

"Yes ma'am, Captain Eugenia Horbaczewski, pleased to meet you."

"Well, a friend of Toshiro is my friend. Brigadier General Adolfine Galland, also pleased to meet you."

They shook hands and Adolfine said, "So, we should get going, right?"

"Yes ma'am, please get seated."

"Toshiro, get your head wrapped up and… Horbie is it? Please, don't tell anyone about Toshiro yet, okay?"

"Yes ma'am."

Horbie climbed into the cabin of the truck, with Toshiro taking a seat in the middle, and Adolfine sitting by his right side. The 6-cylinder engine of the truck started and they were off.

Toshiro looked to the left and saw a power and phone line going over the sand, with poles placed every 500 meters. After some time, they had to stop at a checkpoint. A witch in a land Striker Unit was on guard. Toshiro recognized the individual; it was Furuko Kitano. She was clad in a short-sleeved uniform on her upper body, but her lower body was only a skimpy loincloth that barely covered her even more skimpy panties. In her hands, she had a Type 38 rifle, with a bayonet attached.

"Good evening Horbie, how are you doing?" Furuko asked.

"Oh fine, Ruko, thank you. I have guests for the 31st, can I go now?"

"Hmmm… Do they have any clearance or something?"

Horbie looked at Adolfine, and she in turn leaned over forward to have a better look at Furuko and said, "Isn't it enough that a Brigadier General is visiting you?"

"G-General?! Please, you may pass!"

"Thank you, Sergeant."

"Bye for now, Ruko."

"Bye Horbie..."

The truck moved on, and in a few minutes, they arrived at the center of the base. The three of them jumped of the truck. There were a few lamps dangling from poles, which also had speakers on them.

"Toshiro, follow me closely and don't utter a syllable until I tell you, okay?"

Toshiro almost wanted to say 'okay', but he bit his tongue in time and only nodded. While they were making way to one of the tents, Toshiro saw a cow in a pen.

_A cow… In the middle of a desert… A cow in the military base in the middle of the desert… Oh the humanity… But at least that solves the mystery of the fodder and salt licks._

Toshiro also saw the witch called Matilda, looking curiously at him, but soon disappearing in one of the large tents. As the three of them approached a tent, they saw a short plank with 'Knock before entering' written on it, dangling from a rope.

Adolfine was a bit surprised and baffled by this, but she took the plank and knocked twice.

"Come in." A voice came from inside.

"Stay here, time to start the show." Adolfine whispered.

Toshiro nodded, and the two entered the tent. He turned around, his back to the tent, and stood there, listening to the conversation.

"Horbie? Oh, and we have a guest? Woah, Adolfine!"

"Nice to see you after all these years, Kei. I'm here leave you a supervisor for the next month."

"Ehh… EH?! A supervisor? Why? Where is she?!"

"Oh, the Wehrmacht has decided to give this particular person a job as a supervisor as a way of training and improving skills. You should assemble your witches, so everyone knows what's going on."

"Wait, wait… What will this supervisor do?"

"Supervise, what else? The duties of this supervisor are as following: watching you, evaluating you, sending reports, procuring supplies etc. Also, what should be noted, this supervisor has nigh unlimited power, and the only thing taboo is disbanding the unit or moving staff."

"I want to see that in writing!" Keiko shouted.

After a few seconds of rustling, Adolfine said, "Here, everything legit and certified."

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww… And it was so peaceful here… Might as well call the witches…" After a brief pause, the few speakers that were mounted on poles awoke. "This is your commander, everyone assemble before my tent, now. And I mean EVERYONE."

"Thank you for your cooperation, Keiko."

"Uuuugh… Whatever… Let's go in the front of the tent already…"

After a few seconds, the pale-blonde haired Fusan got out of the tent, and looked at Toshiro. She scanned him from top to button, and said, "So you are the supervisor… I hope you won't be a bother?"

_How direct… So this is the Commander? A miko outfit with a short hakama, a black scarf around the neck… Modest yet elegant I must say… An her hair is so bright…_

Toshiro only shrugged.

"Ugh…" Keiko turned around to see the space before the tent.

Soon all of the Witches were assembled before the commander's tent. Toshiro saw all the witches from the dossiers, except for Furuko, which was on guard duty. But something struck him as he was counting heads. He saw two faces that were all but unknown to him - the red headed Liberian and black haired Romagnan.

_My goddess… What are Shirley and Francesca doing here? And why are they looking so tired? To look so tired, one would have to unload a fucking trainload of coal!_

"As I see that everyone is present, I would like to make an announcement… From today, we have a supervisor in our base, so you'd better behave at your best…"

The eyes of the gathered started darting between the masked Toshiro and Galland.

"Oy, which one is it?" The one Toshiro recognized as Mami Inagaki spoke up.

At the same time, Toshiro stepped forward, lining up with Adolfine. Toshiro saw that the crowd reacted a bit, but the biggest reaction was from Shirley. Her eyes started welling up with tears and she started moving forward, pushing through the gathered witches.

"No… Impossible… You can't…" She was talking while walking forward like a living corpse.

"What is this behavior, Captain Yeager? Back in line." Keiko commanded.

Toshiro raised his left hand and made a 'come closer' gesture.

Everyone around was stupefied, except for Adolfine, who already knew about their relation.

Shirley approached Toshiro, took of his sunglasses and undid the lower part of the kufiya. Tears started to flow even more intensively and she hugged him tightly.

"Thank God… You are alive… Toshiro…"

"Yes, Shirley…" He said with a calm voice, embracing her lightly.

* * *

**Notes:**

**Roosevelt in Tobruk – not quite an asspull, might I say. FDR visited Egypt on February 12, 1945, after attending to the Yalta Conference. So a little adapting and poof, he's in Lybia. :P**

**And if you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]**


	12. Chapter 12 - First night

Chapter 12 – First night

The gathered witches were paralyzed because of what they saw. However, the state didn't last long, as a shout pierced the air.

"TOOOOOOSHIIIIIROOOOOO!"

Francesca shouted from the top of her lungs and ran to Toshiro, who was now releasing Shirley from his embrace. Lucchini jumped at him with such an impetus, that they both landed flat on the sand.

"Hey, Francesca, nice to meet you! And… Why are you trying to grope me again?" He asked the Romagnan, who was sitting on his stomach.

"Something changed! Your boobs have grown!"

"Hahahaha! No, Francesca, those are not boobs, only muscles, and they didn't grow that much. Why are you looking so dirty and worn by the way? Do you have a mining operation here or what?"

"Ehhh… Heheheh…" Francesca wandered with her eyes across the sky.

Toshiro's gaze wandered to Shirley, which in turn started crying again, and she threw herself on both Francesca and him lying in the ground.

"Saaaave uuus Toshirooo!" Shirley wailed. "We are doing slave labor heeeere!"

"Calm down, please… What happened?"

She immediately calmed down and followed Francesca in gazing nervously into the sky.

Toshiro sniffed a bit and asked, "Why do you reek of cheap wash powder and sweat?" Toshiro started standing up. "Will someone answer me why the fuck do these two like they just returned from digging up a clay deposit?"

The witches from the 31st looked nervously at each other, but then Toshiro heard a voice from behind.

"They were punished with doing miscellaneous tasks for what they did a few days ago, upon arriving in our base." Keiko said with a cold voice.

"And how did they deserve their punishment?"

"The black one started…. groping us one after another…"

Toshiro raised one of his eyebrows, a bit confused. He looked at the two mischief-makers and asked, "Is that true?"

"Yesh…" Both answered childishly.

Toshiro turned around to Keiko.

"What's their current status, military wise?"

"Free soldiers, but…"

"But?"

"But we took their transportation measures, so they won't run away…"

"So you are telling me, that just for groping yours and the others boobs they are now held against their own will in this base, and what… washing underwear and shoveling shit from under that cow?"

"Uhh… Sir, before I reply, can I know who I'm dealing with?"

"Oh yes, of course." Toshiro turned around to the rest.

"My name is Toshiro Edelweiss, and I'm a Major of the Wehrmacht, and your new supervisor and judicial officer. Some may also know me as the Kaisers nephew." Toshiro turned around to Keiko, only to see her terrified face. "So, an answer to my question, Major?"

"Y-Y-Yes sir, the situation looks just as you presented it…"

Loud murmuring was heard from the gathered witches behind his back.

"Adolfine, we need to talk." Toshiro said with a cold voice, and made a hand gesture in the direction of the tent.

She walked in with him a bit hesitantly, and asked, "What is it, Toshiro? Don't tell me that you want to court martial Keiko or something; she is my friend from since the Fuso Sea Incident."

"No, no… I just want a request from you… A little favor…"

"Let's hear it…"

Toshiro neared Adolfine, and whispered into her ear. After a minute, he stepped back and asked, "Doable?"

"I think yes… Well, not a bad idea I must say…"

"Then let's turn it into reality."

They both stepped out, and Adolfine said, "I have something to announce. From this day onward, Charlotte E. Yeager and Francesca Lucchini are officially members of the 31st JFS and assistants of Major Edelweiss. Additionally, all their faults are hereby officially pardoned. That is all, and now I have to return to port before it gets dark. Everyone, unload the truck, it is mostly food for all of you, but some things are Toshiro's personal belongings. More supplies will be delivered tomorrow after sunrise. Any questions?"

Marseille raised her hand.

"General, what the hell is going on here?"

"Ah, Marseille… Straight to the point, huh? Toshiro will explain everything in due time, if he wants to of course. For now, just remember that he's the boss of Keiko, understood?"

"Yes ma'am…"

Adolfine turned to Toshiro and said, "So, this is it… I am leaving you for at least a month. Your first single mission for your new homeland… Thanks for the trip."

"I should thank you, Adolfine. What I experienced during it was… unique… I hope you have a safe trip home."

"Thank you, Toshiro. Go and look up what could be yours in the truck. I took a bedroll for you, it's in the shipment."

"Will do."

Toshiro, still with the top of the kufiya on his head, went to the truck. The witches started unloading the goods already. He passed by Matilda and Mami who were unloading the truck, and jumped into it.

He saw his chest amongst the things that were there, and a bedroll lying on in. Just as he was to take them, he remembered something. Toshiro started rummaging the supplies and swiped a bar of chocolate. Then he took his chest and a bedroll, and went to Shirley and Francesca.

"So, where do you crash in this joint?"

"We have a tent just for us, but it's a bit small… But you can fit in probably; we will be all snugly, heehee…"

"Yes, Toshiro! Sleep with us!" Francesca cheered. "The nights are really cold…"

"Okay, you convinced me. Lead on, you two."

They lead him to a small, pyramid shaped tent that stood behind the two bigger ones. Francesca opened the flap, and Toshiro saw two bedrolls and some items lying around in the sand.

"It ain't the Ritz, but I guess it will do…" Toshiro said, and placed his bedroll and chest inside. "You know what, Shirley?" Toshiro asked

"What?"

He pulled out the bar of chocolate he pinched and gave it to Shirley.

"I know its a few days late, but happy birthday..."

She looked at him surprised, but as soon as her brain processed the information, she hugged him and said, "Thanks…"

"And now that I successfully bribed you… Tell me how the witches here treated you. The whole, unaltered truth."

"Well… Before that stupid little boob fanatic groped Marseille, we were treated in a lukewarm manner. You know, they didn't unroll the red carpet for us, but they didn't shoot at us on sight either. But after Lucchini groped Marseille… Ugh… Hell unleashed…"

"So it's Marseille overreacting that got you into slave labor?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it slave labor, you know? It's more like doing the 'dirty work'. We get regular meals, water, and we have a tent over our heads, but we are banned from flying."

"You can't fly? What a damn waste of manpower… Say, how are the Neuroi attacks around here?"

"On daily basis. But mostly those are one, maybe two enemy flyers… On a rare occasion we see some Walkers, but that's not much…"

"Hmm… Thanks for the info… You think we should hit the sack already?"

"We could, actually. We are both dead tired after washing clothes and shoveling dung, right, Lucchini?"

"Yeeeeees…" Francesca moaned.

"Actually, wait a second; I'll take a walk around, okay?"

"Okay, just don't take too long. And you can take off that rag you are wearing, geez…"

"Oh right… I almost didn't notice that I'm still wearing it… By the way, how the hell did you recognize me?"

"Hahah! I waited for you to ask that question. You see, my womanly intuition and trained perception never failed me! First, your shoes. They are a unique pair for all I know. Secondly, your stature. An almost two meter high hulk appearing in the middle of nowhere? What are the odds, huh? And lastly, the same trick won't work twice on me, even if modified."

"Not bad, Shirley. I doubt I would recognize someone on behalf of that… Anyway, time to get undressed…"

Toshiro pulled off his excess clothes, and placed them into the chest behind him.

"Toshiro…" Shirley gasped surprised. "You hair… So long and… white…"

"Yeah, Toshiro has longer hair than both of us now!"

"Maybe I'll tell you the story behind it, but not now okay? Remind me someday."

"Okay… Wait, wait a second…" She said and looked Toshiro in the eyes. "Your eyes also changed. I remember them being jet black, and now their… crimson red…"

"Lemme see!" Lucchini shouted and shoved herself through Toshiro and Lucchini. "Oooh, they really changed. Not as scary as those snake eyes though…"

"The snake eyes are now gone, Francesca. The only way to know that I'm using magic, is actually detecting it. Okay, I'm off for a stroll."

He got out of the tent. The sun was setting dimly in a red color, a single thin line along the horizon. A 'welcoming committee' was already waiting for him - Marseille, Pöttgen and Matilda.

Marseille was clad like some Liberion teenager, wearing a skimpy skirt and a long sleeved black leather jacket over her desert uniform.

"What do we have here…?" Toshiro asked. "A welcoming party?"

"Is it you, Major? I barely recognize you without that thawb and kufiya." Raisa asked.

"Yes, Lieutenant Pöttgen, it's me."

"Mmmmmmhmmm… Ruko will have an orgasm when she sees your hair…"

"Huh?" Toshiro tilted his head in surprise.

"Don't listen to her, Herr Major." Marseille said firmly. "Now, if you could explain the current situation, in simple words…"

"Me boss, you underling." Toshiro said with a rusty voice.

"For fucks sake…" She hissed through her clenched teeth.

Toshiro switched to attack mode.

"Did I hear something, Captain Marseille?"

"No sir."

"Good, I thought so… Because, you know, you are threading on a thin red line right now… You made my two best friends do work fit for a peasant, and you forbade them flying… I'm quite frankly pissed off at what I'm seeing here..."

"But sir, that Romagnan girl groped my boobs! And the boobs of the rest!"

"And what, is that a fitting punishment for them? I would just beat them up and send them off on your place, but nooooo, princess had to make some slaves, because she can't wash her underwear… And that cow? I bet that is also your cow, right? Find someone else to shovel its shit, because while I am here, Shirley and Francesca will be treated with dignity, and they will do combat patrols! IS THAT CLEAR?!"

"Yes sir…" She responded bitterly.

"Good that you understand." Toshiro closed in to them. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not some tyrant, I'm just pissed of that you treated my friends like dirt. Shirley is a super high-speed specialist, only slower than me, and Francesca is her faithful wingman." Toshiro said calmly. "Starting from tomorrow, I hope we will have a fruitful cooperation." Toshiro said and extended his hand. "You can call me Toshiro, if you feel like it."

The girls looked dumbfounded at him, but Marseille finally grabbed his hand and shook it dearly.

"I'll call you Major for now. You can call me Hanna, or Tina like most people call me."

"A pleasure to meet you, Tina. By the way, what's the day plan here?"

"There's no plan. We work depending on the temperature. If it's too hot, we just sit in our tents and sigh in the heat."

"Heh… Fair enough. Oh, and Tina?"

"Yes?"

"I don't wonder why Francesca groped you." Toshiro said with a smile.

She took a step back and 'protected' her breasts.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I like to crack lewd jokes, but I have a girlfriend already. Maybe I'll tell you about her one day, but for now let's go our separate ways."

"Yeah…"

"Good night, you three."

"Good night." He heard the response from Raisa and Tina.

Matilda was looking at him with eyes cold as steel, not saying a word.

They stared at each other for a minute, and she was the one to back out.

_"She's… weird…"_

_"Ditto, Yuki…"_

Toshiro returned into the tent. Its two tenants were already waiting for him, fully awake.

"I see you are doing it again, right, Toshiro?"

"Doing what again?"

"Making new friends and spewing moralistic talks."

"Ah, heh… Yeah… I seem to work that way subconsciously… But hey, at least you will be able to fly again!"

"I can't wait to ditch this place…"

"Shirley… You know that you are now a part of this unit, right?"

"Yes, and?"

"If you go AWOL, as your commander I'll have to court martial you, to which I have full authority…"

"Damn, I didn't think about that… I still remember what happened to Miyafuji back in Britannia… Okay, I'll stay, but promise me that you'll try to improve our living standards, okay?"

"I believe I saw something in the shipping manifest that will improve it substantially… But for now, let's sleep. Good night you two."

"Night." Shirley said.

"Muuuu… Zzzzz…" Only so much was heard from Francesca.

Toshiro stretched himself in his bedroll, and thought for a moment.

_So I'm stuck here in the middle of the desert with a joint Fuso-Karlslandian unit, but I found these two. It will be a long month, but I hope I can get all those girls on my side, and make this unit at least a bit better…_

Then he drifted away, for his first night under the starry sky of Africa.

* * *

**And if you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]**


	13. Chapter 13 - Matilda

Chapter 13 – Matilda

Toshiro woke up around 0500 as usual, or actually, Yuki was the one who woke him up.

_"Wake up, sleepy head! You are in duty now, and its 5 AM in this time zone! Time to have an itinerary again!"_

_"Uuuuuugh… You are literally worse than the Plague… Or the pox… Or taxes…"_

_"Don't bitch around; you'll adjust in a few days! Up you go!"_

_"Yeah… Okay, one Toshiro coming up! When did my familiar got replaced with a Drill Sergeant…?"_

He opened his eyes, and looked to the left. Francesca wasn't there, but led by instinct, he knew where she could be. Looking to the right, he found the little boob connoisseur using Shirley's breasts as pillows.

_Sweet and lewd at the same time… They really fit together._

Toshiro silently stood up and went outside of the tent. The morning sun started peeking out shyly from behind the horizon, bathing the surrounding with warm orange light. He decided to walk up to a dune and take a look around the base. After positioning himself, he memorized the base layout.

It was placed in a corner made from two dunes, one in the east, and one in the south. There was an opening with a road to Tobruk on the north, and a makeshift sandy runway to the west. He saw their tent behind two bigger ones. What he didn't see yesterday, is that one of the tents had a red cross on a white square painted on it. There was also a large tent near a big tank, with a metal chimney protruding from the backside, which must have been the dining tent. He also saw a large tent besides the cow pen, and the commander's tent. There was also a fortified entrance dug into one of the dunes, which sparked the interest of Toshiro, but for now, he carried on looking around.

Near the runway, he saw a half open shed, and various weapons and Strikers in it. Power lines were splitting from one pole, and were going into every tent, except for the one in which they lived. He also noticed a big antenna coming out of Keiko's tent.

_I'm curious how the distribution of people looks like… Might as well peek around a bit…_

Toshiro activated the Hebigan and looked around again. He recognized Shirley's and Francesca's signatures in their tent. Thanks to the fact that the used the Hebigan for a split second yesterday, he knew the signatures of the rest of the witches. Mami, Furuko and Raisa were sleeping in the tent near theirs. Tina was sleeping alone in the big tent, and Keiko was doing likewise in hers.

_Where's that creepy Matilda… Hmm…_

Suddenly, he more felt then heard somebody behind him.

"I can sense you, Matilda."

He turned around and saw her in the same clothes as he saw her in yesterday: a white long sleeved shirt, a colorful necklace, skimpy white panties and flip-flops on her feet. She was taller than the rest of the witches here, about 170 centimeters.

"An impressive perception skill, white one." She said with a neutral, deep voice, almost not fitting someone of her age and gender.

"White one? Are you going on my hair color, or skin color?"

"Both, white one."

"Okay… I would prefer that you call me by my given name, Toshiro, but let us leave that for now… The more important issue for now is: why are you sneaking up on me so early in the morning?"

"I want to know more about you, white one. It's not common that a man possesses magical abilities, and I wanted to witness this rare phenomenon, especially if said man also has such hair and eyes."

"My hair color is a result of my grief, and my eye color is a side-effect of training by the side of a goddess."

"And what goddess would that be, white one?"

"The Great August Kami Who Shines In Heaven, Amaterasu."

"Is that a powerful goddess?"

"As powerful as any supernatural entity."

"I also have a god in which I believe in, the Great Searing Eagle of the South. I want to find out which of our gods is more powerful."

"I'd rather not go into a fight with you, especially that you are a civilian from what I see."

"Yes, I'm not affiliated with any military, white one. And why do you hesitate in sparring with me?"

"I made an oath to my goddess, not to use my powers against other people, unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Then I'll create such a necessity." She calmly replied and pulled out something from behind her back.

It was an over half-meter sword, which was straight from up the hilt, and then curved like a sickle from the middle. The blade was polished clean, and shining brightly in the morning sun.

"Ugh… Why do I always attract weirdoes with blades…? I'm warning you for the final time, I don't want to hurt you."

"Who will be hurt will be determined from the outcome of our fight. Prepare yourself!" She shouted and rushed at him.

Toshiro waited patiently with his hands crossed on his chest. When Matilda was just two meters before him, he gave an order to Yuki.

_Now!_

Time slowed down, with Matilda in a stabbing position charging at him. He pulled out the sword from her hand, stuck it behind his belt, brought her down on her knees, summoned his sword, and placed the blade just before her throat, holding her head with his left hand.

When the time flow resumed, Matilda had a spasm, and looked at him with confused eyes.

"What… What happened?! Why am I on my knees? Where is my blade? And what is that sword?"

"I just showed you the power of my goddess, and my familiar. Your blade is stuck behind my belt on my back. And this sword is my sword, Aganaimaru. I would advise you not to move, or your head might accidentally roll down this dune, and it would be a shame to lose such a beautiful witch."

"I give in, white one. Your goddess has given you more strength than my god gave me."

Toshiro dispelled his sword and extended his hand to Matilda.

"I told you, it's Toshiro."

She grabbed his hand and pulled up herself. While still holding his hand she said, "As you wish, Toshiro."

"Tell me one thing: you fought me only because of my hair and eye color?"

"Yes. Amongst my people, such a man like you would immediately be considered a powerful shaman, so I wanted to be sure if you stood up to those expectations."

"Don't judge a book by its cover, Matilda. I may be a powerful wizard, shaman or whatever witch doctor, but I'm also a normal man, maybe a bit too perverted at times, heh."

Matilda put on a small smile on her face.

"So what is the perverted wizard doing up at this time?"

"When I was in Britannia, I usually made some rounds around the base and did some lifting before breakfast."

"The runway is a good place to run here, but we don't have any lifts, you have to forgive us."

"Meh, don't worry, running around will do. Want to accompany me?"

"I actually do jogging in the morning myself. Follow me, Toshiro."

They ran down the dune, through the base and onto the runway. However, before an hour passed, Matilda stopped.

"I would advise to stop now, jogging in the sun is not a good idea."

"Good, I wanted to stop anyway."

"Fancy any milk?"

"Milk?"

"Yes, milk. Mistress Marseille always likes to drink milk in the morning."

"Well, if you are offering, I'll take drink some. Oh and… What is your relationship with her anyway? When I first heard that you are her servant, I felt a bit… uneasy…"

Matilda looked surprised at Toshiro.

"I understand the concepts of racism, slavery and indentured servitude, Toshiro, but this isn't any of them. My god gave me a vision in which he showed an incarnation of an eagle, and told me to go north. After an arduous journey I finally found Mistress Marseille, which I now serve and protect."

"Thank you for the explanation, Matilda. You could also say that I'm on a mission from my goddess. My goal is to eradicate the Neuroi from the face of the Earth."

"A long and dangerous quest…" Matilda said with respect. "Let's get some milk then, I believe there's still some in the pantry."

"Pantry?"

"You probably saw the door to it, it's a room dug in one of the dunes."

Toshiro nodded.

They ventured on to the mysterious door in the dune. Matilda pulled out a sturdy key and unlocked the door. Although wooden on the exterior, the door was actually made of metal from the inside. It was dark in the pantry, but Toshiro only looked in from the outside, and from what he saw the pantry was well stocked.

Matilda came out with some milk poured into a milk can lid.

"No glasses inside." She briefly explained.

"Whatever…"

Toshiro took a sip first and said, "Wow, it's really cold! And good!"

He gulped down the rest of the milk, and gave the lid back to Matilda. After a few seconds, she came out and closed the pantry door.

"From what I heard, the room was designed specifically to keep the milk of Mistress Marseille cold, but the commander seized it as a pantry for everyone. The door has wooden planks attached from the outside to keep the heat from coming in, and the metal door is filled with… vacuum or something like that to insulate the heat. But I don't know what that actually means; I'm only a simple woman from Transvaal."

"So Marseille only wanted a freezer for herself?"

"Yes…" Matilda said a bit ashamed.

"You are very talkative compared to yesterday by the way, what changed?"

"I was distrustful towards you, and I'm rather the loner-taciturn type, the ideal servant…"

"I'm glad that changed. When is breakfast served here?"

"Between 0700 and 0800, depends when Mami gets up."

"She is the cook? Incredible…"

"She cooks very well, and the kitchen is accustomed to her… physical conditions…"

"I see… And I also saw the key to the pantry… Tell me, how many people have one?"

"This key is Mistress's, and the commander has one. I believe that she also has a spare…"

"Good, good. I'll have to have a key as your supervisor, so I don't have to bug you or Tina…"

"I trust you would not pilfer our supplies?"

Toshiro looked at her with a disgruntled face.

"I'm a man of honor and a high-ranked officer; I can't afford such petty crimes…"

Matilda smiled.

"I can feel it from you, Toshiro. Despite a slight case of pervertitis, your heart is made of gold."

"I already have a few nicknames related to that trait of mine…"

"Care to tell me?"

"Heh, yes… One would be 'Big Daddy' and the other one would be 'Giant with a heart of gold'."

"Hahah! Splendid nicknames indeed. I hope you will take care of our unit."

"I will, I promise. Oh and…" Toshiro pulled out the sword from behind his back. "…I believe this is yours. I've never seen such a design to be honest."

"It's called a 'khopesh' or sickle-sword. An Ancient Egyptian design that I took liking in. May I have it back?"

"Sure, but don't try to stab me, heh…"

Toshiro turned the blade in his hand, so it laid flat on his palm. Matilda took the sword by the hilt, and stuck it behind her back.

"You have a sheath on your back?"

"Convenient, right? But where do you store that gigantic sword of yours?"

"In a pocket dimension."

"Huh?" Matilda tilted her head.

"I summon it at will."

"Oh yes, now I understand. I also have a slingshot that I use when fighting Neuroi."

"A slingshot… Really…"

"You wouldn't want to get hit by a rock I fire from it, believe me…"

"I have to take your word for that…"

"Yes… I could demonstrate, but that would wake up the whole base…"

"I'll could also demonstrate something in exchange, but that would also wake up the whole base."

"Then I'm looking forward to an encounter in a secluded place…" Matilda said with a seductive voice.

"Who has the pervertitis now… I'll actually show what I want to show before everyone; maybe they'll get more respect for me that way?"

"The girls here are not easily impressed, so don't try to fool them with a shiny penny."

"Oh it won't be a shiny penny, oh no… So, since I already know most of the base's layout, maybe we should part ways and return to our respective tents?"

"A good idea. Mistress always has some weird caprices after waking up…"

"Later then, Matilda."

"Later, Toshiro."

He returned to his tent, and saw that Francesca was still sleeping on Shirley. Toshiro lied down and looked at the 'roof' of the tent. He could see the blue sky through the various holes.

_Although I know that the desert is not a place where you can expect rain anytime soon, I'd still like a whole roof over my head… I hope that that transport will come today…_

* * *

**And if you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]**


End file.
